Estudo in vitro da nefrotoxicidade do veneno total e fração fosfolipase A2 da serpente Bothropoides insularis (AMARAL, 1921)

• Ano de defesa: 2012
• Autor(a) principal: Ferraz, Clarissa Perdigão Mello
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Tipo de acesso: Acesso aberto
• Idioma: por
• Palavras-chave em Português: Morte Celular; Rim; Bothrops
• Link de acesso: http://www.repositorio.ufc.br/handle/riufc/15316

Natural products and their derivatives are currently the most important source of novel therapeutic agents and provide useful tools for studies in physiopathology and pharmacology. Snake venoms display a wide array of pharmacological properties due to their complex combinations of active substances, especially peptides and proteins, capable of interfering with physiological processes. Snakes of the genera Bothrops and Bothropoides accounted for 70% of snake bites reported in Brazil. The Bothropoides insularis (golden lancehead) is endemic to Queimada Grande, an island off the state of São Paulo. Like the venom of other Bothrops species, the venom of B. insularis has coagulant, hemorrhagic and fibrinolytic properties and is known to cause kidney failure in vivo. The objective of the study was to evaluate of whole venom of B. insularis and its phospholipase A2 fraction in Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cell culture tubes. The cells were grown in RPMI 1640 medium supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum in plastic vials with an atmosphere containing 5% CO2 at 37°C. Treatment with whole venom reduced cell viability at all the concentrations tested (200, 100, 50, 25, 12.5 and 6.25 mg/mL) and yielded an IC50 of 9 μg/mL. Cell membrane integrity during the process of cell death from whole venom was evaluated by LDH enzyme assay, indicating enzyme release at all concentrations. Flow cytometry with Annexin V-FITC and propidium iodide revealed that cell death at the lowest concentrations (18 and 36 μg/mL) of whole venom occurred predominantly by apoptosis. However, at the highest concentration (72 μg/mL), in addition to death by apoptosis, an increased number of cells in late apoptosis was observed.In the Rhodamine 123 assay the treatment with whole venom (36 μg/mL) induced significant depolarization of the mitochondrial membrane potential. The expression of genes involved in cell death by apoptosis did not show any significant results, when tested with whole venom in 24h. The phospholipase A2 fraction was also submitted to cell viability and membrane integrity assays at several concentrations (200, 100, 50, 25, 12.5 and 6.25 mg/mL), with no significant results in any of the experiments. Taken together, our results indicate that the venom of B. insularis is cytotoxic in MDCK cell culture and that cell death occurs predominantly by apoptosis.