A potent antihemorrhagin in the serum of the non-poisonous water snake Natrix tessellata: isolation, characterization and mechanism of neutralization

Abstract

The main natural antihemorrhagic factor (NtAH), which inhibits the hemorrhagic activity of Bothrops asper snake venom, was isolated from the serum of the non-poisonous water snake Natrix tessellata by ammonium sulfate precipitation at 35–55%, Sephadex G-75 gel filtration, ion exchange chromatography on DEAE-Sepharose and CM-Sepharose and hydrophobic Phenyl-Sepharose chromatography. The purified protein showed one band with an isoelectric point of 4.5 and a molecular mass of about 880 kDa. The antihemorrhagic activity was stable between pH 5.5–11.7 and up to 50°C, but lost activity after 20 min at 60°C. It did not form a precipitin line with the main hemorrhagin of Bothrops asper snake venom (BaH1), nor with the whole venom, which suggests that the antihemorrhagic factor is not an immunoglobulin. The mechanism of neutralization by the isolated antihemorrhagic factor NtAH did not include digestion of the hemorrhagic toxin BaH1. Chromatography of NtAH with active 125I-labeled BaH1 toxin as well as ELISA experiments demonstrated that the mechanism of neutralization involves formation of an inactive soluble complex between the natural NtAH of the non-poisonous water snake and the main hemorrhagin of Bothrops asper venom.