Abstract
The Theraphosidae family includes the largest number of species of the Mygalomorphae infraorder, with hundreds of species currently catalogued. However, there is a huge lack on physiologic and even ecologic information available, especially in Brazil, which is the most biodiverse country in the world. Over the years, spiders have been presented as a source of multiple biologically active compounds with basic roles, such as primary defense against pathogenic microorganisms or modulation of metabolic pathways and as specialized hunters. Spider venoms also evolved in order to enable the capture of prey by interaction with a diversity of molecular targets of interest, raising their pharmaceutical potential for the development of new drugs. Among the activities found in compounds isolated from venoms and hemocytes of Brazilian Theraphosidae there are antimicrobial, antifungal, antiparasitic and antitumoral, as well as properties related to proteinase action and neuromuscular blockage modulated by ionic voltage-gated channel interaction. These characteristics are present in different species from multiple genera, which is strong evidence of the important role in spider survival. The present review aims to compile the main results of studies from the last decades on Brazilian Theraphosidae with special focus on results obtained with the crude venom or compounds isolated from both venom and hemocytes, and their physiological and chemical characterization.
Highlights
Mygalomorphae (Pocock, 1892) is an infraorder of spiders, which includes species from the family Theraphosidae, commonly known as tarantulas
In this review we present 43 studies performed with Brazilian Theraphosidae species along the last decades with focus on the structural and pharmacological characterization of biologically active compounds isolated from the venom or hemocytes of this family
Some articles have been excluded to full description, they were utilized for introduction and spider description
Summary
Mygalomorphae (Pocock, 1892) is an infraorder of spiders, which includes species from the family Theraphosidae, commonly known as tarantulas. These spiders are characterized by medium to large size, characteristic articulated chelicerae that move parallel to the axis of the animal’s body, called orthognathic chelicerae. Despite their size inspiring fear, Theraphosidae usually are not dangerous to humans [1]. This family is the largest within Mygalomorphae, including 1004 species distributed in 152 genera [2]. The hemocytes are separated from plasma by centrifugation [4, 5, 6]
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