Variação sexual e ontogenética do veneno de Bothrops leucurus (Wagler, 1824) (Serpentes: Viperidae)

Abstract

In Brazil, most snakebites are caused by snakes of the genus Bothrops. The specie Bothrops leucurus, popularly known as white tail jararaca, is responsible for about 70% of accidents in Bahia. Changes in venom chemical composition may reflect in changes within the framework of poisoning. The study of sexual and ontogenetic variation of snake venoms are of paramount importance in the search for understanding of its complexity, effects of intoxication, as well as search for pharmacologically active molecules. The present study aimed to analyze the sexual and ontogenetic venom variations of the snake Bothrops leucurus. Pools of crude venoms were separated into groups: males and females; young, adults and olds snakes. Were evaluated electrophoretic profile, proteolytic activity in gelatin, equine plasma coagulant activity, antimicrobial activity on S. aureus and serum neutralization. The B. leucurus venom presented ontogenetic and sexual variation in all the techniques evaluated. The electrophoretic profile showed that the females’ venom has increased diversity of proteins in their composition. The proteolytic action was observed in all groups being more potent in adult and olds animals. Only the young animals presented action coagulant, having females the highest activity. The poison of all evaluated groups showed discrete antimicrobial activity on S. aureus. Despite the differences in the groups of tested, all the venoms were neutralized by the reference serum for the genus Bothrops, although this species does not compose the pool for production.