title: Physiological and biochemical analysis to reveal the molecular basis for black widow spiderling toxicity.
abstract: The early research found that the spiderlings of black widow spider (Latrodectus tredecimguttatus) exhibited obvious toxicity to animals. The present work performed a systematical analysis of the aqueous extract of newborn black widow spiderlings. The extract was shown to contain 69.42% of proteins varying in molecular weights and isoelectric points. Abdominal injection of the extract into mice and cockroaches caused obvious poisoning symptoms as well as death, with LD50 being 5.30 mg/kg in mice and 16.74 µg/g in Periplaneta americana. Electrophysiological experiments indicated that the extract at a concentration of 10 µg/mL could completely block the neuromuscular transmission in isolated mouse nerve-hemidiaphragm preparations within 21 ± 1.5 min, and 100 µg/mL extract could inhibit a certain percentage of voltage-activated Na⁺, K⁺, and Ca²⁺ channel currents in rat dorsal root ganglion neurons. These results demonstrate that the spiderlings are rich in neurotoxic components, which play important roles in the spiderling toxicity.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Protein Chemistry and Developmental Biology of Ministry of Education, College of Life Sciences, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, Hunan 410081, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Xiaozhen
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.forename: Yiya
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Jinyan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Hai
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Jia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Qian
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Lei
authors.forename: Xianchun
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Songping
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Liang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001740:Black Widow Spider / Q000737:chemistry / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology; D003964:Diaphragm / Q000187:drug effects / Q000294:innervation; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; D005260:Female; D005727:Ganglia, Spinal / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D007473:Ion Channels / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors; D007928:Lethal Dose 50; D008297:Male; D008815:Mice, Inbred Strains; D009469:Neuromuscular Junction / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D009474:Neurons / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D009498:Neurotoxins / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000633:toxicity*; D010526:Periplaneta; D009435:Synaptic Transmission / Q000187:drug effects; D014020:Tissue Extracts / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000633:toxicity*
chemical_list: D007473:Ion Channels; D009498:Neurotoxins; D014020:Tissue Extracts
keywords: Black Widow Spider; Characterization; Extract; Newborn Spiderling; Toxicity