title: In depth analysis of the in vivo toxicity of venom from the jellyfish Stomolophus meleagris.
abstract: Jellyfish Stomolophus meleagris, a synonym of Nemopilema nomurai, which has often bloomed in the China Sea in recent years, is becoming an increasing threat to human health and life as a result of its strong toxicity. Each year, hundreds of thousands of people were stung, especially in the high season, and the victims suffered itch, edema, myalgia, dyspnea, hypotension, shock and even death. Here, we present the in-depth analysis of the in vivo toxicity of the venom from the jellyfish S. meleagris by using both an acute toxicological approach and pathological analyses. The venom showed an LD50 of approximately 2.92 μg/g body weight in mice following an intravenous injection and caused renal glomerular swelling, renal vesicle stricture, renal tubules dilatation, hepatic blood sinusoid dilatation, pulmonary edema and malignant pleural effusion. The pathological sections analysis showed that the kidney and liver were significantly damaged, but the heart, spleen and stomach had no observed changes. Additionally, the hemanalysis showed an increase of white blood cells (WBC), middle cells (Mid), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), blood urine nitrogen (BUN) and uric acid (UA) in the blood. Moreover, the mice also displayed convulsions, mouth bleeding, piloerection, dyspnea and death after the injection of the venom. In conclusion, this venom has a strong toxicity to the kidney of the mice and the acute renal failure might be one of the most important factors for the death after a severe sting. Hopefully, the present study will provide a significant reference for the treatment of stings by the jellyfish S. meleagris in the future.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 7 Nanhai Road, Qingdao, 266071, China.
authors.forename: Rongfeng
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 7 Nanhai Road, Qingdao, 266071, China.
authors.forename: Huahua
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 7 Nanhai Road, Qingdao, 266071, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 19 Yuquan Road, Beijing, 100039, China.
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yue
authors.affiliation: Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 7 Nanhai Road, Qingdao, 266071, China.
authors.forename: Song
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 7 Nanhai Road, Qingdao, 266071, China.
authors.forename: Ronge
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Xing
authors.affiliation: Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 7 Nanhai Road, Qingdao, 266071, China.
authors.forename: Xiaolin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 7 Nanhai Road, Qingdao, 266071, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 19 Yuquan Road, Beijing, 100039, China.
authors.forename: Xueqin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 7 Nanhai Road, Qingdao, 266071, China. Electronic address: pcli@qdio.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Pengcheng
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D000410:Alanine Transaminase / Q000097:blood; D000818:Animals; D001806:Blood Urea Nitrogen; D002681:China; D003064:Cnidarian Venoms / Q000633:toxicity*; D007678:Kidney Glomerulus / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000473:pathology; D007684:Kidney Tubules / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000473:pathology; D007928:Lethal Dose 50; D007958:Leukocyte Count; D008099:Liver / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000473:pathology; D051379:Mice; D009498:Neurotoxins / Q000633:toxicity*; D009792:Oceans and Seas; D037401:Scyphozoa / Q000737:chemistry*; D014527:Uric Acid / Q000097:blood
chemical_list: D003064:Cnidarian Venoms; D009498:Neurotoxins; D014527:Uric Acid; D000410:Alanine Transaminase
keywords: Jellyfish; Nemopilema nomurai; Sting; Stomolophus meleagris; Venom