title: Venom from Opisthacanthus elatus scorpion of Colombia, could be more hemolytic and less neurotoxic than thought.
abstract: We report the first biochemical, biological, pharmacological and partial proteomic characterization studies of the Opisthancanthus elatus venom (Gervais, 1844) from Colombia. The Reverse Phase High-Performance Liquid Chromatography venom profile showed 28 main well-defined peaks, most eluting between 20 and 45min (18-30% of acetonitrile, respectively). High-resolution mass analysis indicates the presence of 106 components ranging from 806.59742Da to 16849.4139Da. O. elatus venom showed hemolytic activity and hydrolyzed the specific substrate BapNa suggesting the presence of proteins with serine-protease activity. Collected RP-HPLC fractions eluting at 52.6, 55.5, 55.8, 56.2, and 63.9min (PLA2 region between 33 and 40% of acetonitrile), showed hemolytic activity and hydrolyzed the synthetic substrate 4-nitro-3-octanoyloxy-benzoic acid, indicating the presence of compounds with phospholipases A2 activity. These RP-HPLC fractions, showed molecular masses values up to 13978.19546Da, corroborating the possible presence of the mentioned enzymes. Tryptic digestion and MS/MS analysis showed the presence of a phospholipase like fragment, similar to on described in other Opisthacanthus genus studies. No coagulant activity was observed. No larvicidal or antimicrobial activity was observed at concentrations evaluated. Lethal and toxic activity is expected at doses above 100mg/kg, no neurotoxic effects were detected at lower doses. In conclusion, O. elatus exhibits a venom with a predominant phospholipase A2 activity than thought; mammal's neurotoxic activity is expected above the 100mg/kg, which is very high compared to the venom from other neurotoxic scorpions.
authors.affiliation: Facultad de Ciencias Farmacéuticas y Alimentarias, Universidad de Antioquia UdeA, Carrera 53 No. 61-30, Medellín 050010, Colombia; Programa de Ofidismo/Escorpionismo, Facultad de Ciencias Farmacéuticas y Alimentarias, Universidad de Antioquia UdeA, Carrera 53 No. 61-30, Medellín 050010, Colombia. Electronic address: sebastian.estrada@udea.edu.co.
authors.forename: Sebastián
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Estrada-Gómez
authors.affiliation: Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Cooperativa de Colombia, Calle 50 A No. 41-20, Medellín 050010, Colombia.
authors.forename: Leidy Johana
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Vargas Muñoz
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Ciencias, Laboratorio de Biología y Bioinformática, Universidad Iberoamericana de Ciencias y Tecnología, Padre Miguel de Olivares No. 1620, Santiago de Chile, Chile.
authors.forename: Mónica
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Saldarriaga-Córdoba
authors.affiliation: Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Cooperativa de Colombia, Calle 50 A No. 41-20, Medellín 050010, Colombia.
authors.forename: Juan Carlos
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Quintana Castillo
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D003105:Colombia; D053878:Hemolytic Agents / Q000633:toxicity*; D008970:Molecular Weight; D009498:Neurotoxins / Q000633:toxicity*; D012604:Scorpion Venoms / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000633:toxicity*; D012605:Scorpions / Q000737:chemistry*; D053719:Tandem Mass Spectrometry
chemical_list: D053878:Hemolytic Agents; D009498:Neurotoxins; D012604:Scorpion Venoms
keywords: MS/MS; Mass fingerprint; Opisthacanthus elatus; Phospholipase A(2) activity; Proteomic; Scorpion; Serine protease activity