title: New immunization protocol to produce crotalic antivenom combining Crotalus durissus terrificus venom and its PLA2.
abstract: Antivenoms are usually obtained by animal immunization with successive inoculations of increasing sublethal amounts of venom, which may impair the animal health. The high lethality of venom requires prolonged immunization plans with small amounts of venom. Thus, we propose an alternative plan that includes a pre-immunization of the animal with phospholipase A2, the main crotoxin component, which is responsible for the whole venom lethality. For comparison, three different immunization schemes were designed: high dose protocol (HDP; 0.5-27 mg of venom), low dose protocol (LDP; 0.1-7 mg of venom) and Mix protocol (MP; preimmunization 0.1-1.2 mg of crotalic PLA2, and then 4.5-8 mg of venom). Antibody titers were determined by ELISA, in blood plasma obtained from the marginal vein of the ear. The neutralizing ability of the different sera obtained by all protocols (HDS, LDS and MS) was tested against the most important pharmacological activities of whole venom: PLA2 activity, myotoxicity, thrombin like activity and lethality. MS showed the best neutralizing efficacy and at the same time, it was obtained by an immunization protocol that takes account of animal health care, since it requires low quantities of venoms in comparison to traditional protocols.
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio de investigación en Proteínas (LabInPro), Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales y Agrimensura, Universidad Nacional del Nordeste (UNNE), Av. Libertad 5470, Corrientes 3400, Argentina; Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias, Universidad Nacional del Nordeste (UNNE), Sargento Cabral 2139, Corrientes 3400, Argentina.
authors.forename: Luciano Sebastián
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Fusco
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio de investigación en Proteínas (LabInPro), Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales y Agrimensura, Universidad Nacional del Nordeste (UNNE), Av. Libertad 5470, Corrientes 3400, Argentina.
authors.forename: Juan Pablo
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Rodríguez
authors.affiliation: Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias, Universidad Nacional del Nordeste (UNNE), Sargento Cabral 2139, Corrientes 3400, Argentina.
authors.forename: Pamela
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Teibler
authors.affiliation: Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias, Universidad Nacional del Nordeste (UNNE), Sargento Cabral 2139, Corrientes 3400, Argentina.
authors.forename: Silvana
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Maruñak
authors.affiliation: Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias, Universidad Nacional del Nordeste (UNNE), Sargento Cabral 2139, Corrientes 3400, Argentina.
authors.forename: Ofelia
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Acosta
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio de investigación en Proteínas (LabInPro), Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales y Agrimensura, Universidad Nacional del Nordeste (UNNE), Av. Libertad 5470, Corrientes 3400, Argentina. Electronic address: lauraleiva2004@yahoo.com.ar.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Leiva
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000906:Antibodies / Q000097:blood; D000997:Antivenins / Q000276:immunology*; D003435:Crotalid Venoms / Q000201:enzymology / Q000276:immunology*; D017839:Crotalus; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D054467:Phospholipases A2 / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D000906:Antibodies; D000997:Antivenins; D003435:Crotalid Venoms; D054467:Phospholipases A2
keywords: Animal health care; Antivenom production; Crotalic envenomation; Phospholipase A(2)