veneno variabilidade

Car acter ização individual do vveneno eneno de Bothr ops alternatus Dumér il, Bibr on &
Caracter
acterização
Bothrops
Duméril,
Bibron
Dumér il em função da distr ib uição geográf ica no Br asil (Ser pentes,V iper idae) (Serpentes,V pentes,Viper iperidae)
Duméril
distrib ibuição geográfica
Brasil
Marisa M. T. da Rocha & Maria de F. D. Furtado
Laboratório de Herpetologia, Instituto Butantan. Avenida Vital Brazil 1500, Butantan, 05503-900 São Paulo, São Paulo,
Brasil. E-mail: [e-mail]; [e-mail] ding ABSTRACT. Individual char character acterization
Bothrops
Duméril il, Bibr
Bibron
Duméril enoms, accor according acter ization of Bothr ops alternatus Dumér il on & Dumér il venoms azil (Ser pentes idae). Bothrops alternatus Duméril, Bibron & Duméril, ib ution in Br iperidae). geograaphic distr distrib ibution
Brazil
(Serpentes pentes, Viper to their geogr
1854 snakebites are an important public health problem in Brazil. Such snakes are found from Mato Grosso do
Sul (central Brazil) to southeastern Brazil, reaching even Argentina and Uruguay and thereby occupying different morphoclimatic domains. This work investigated venom variation occurring in adult specimens of B. alternatus specimens, according to their geographic distribution in Brazil. The standard venom pool (reference venom) produced by Instituto Butantan, which includes mostly venoms from B. alternatus specimens captured in São
Paulo State, was also used for comparison. Lethal, myotoxic, proteolytic (on casein), and coagulant (on human plasma) activities, as well as the electrophoretic patterns of 61 individual venom samples, were evaluated and compared to those of the reference venom pool. Results showed that B. alternatus venom activities are less potent than those of other Bothrops Wagler, 1824 species. A great individual variation was noticed, which could not be correlated with either geographic distribution or morphoclimatic domains. Coagulant activity of venom samples