Abstract
Snake venoms are toxic to a variety of cell types. However, the intracellular damages and the cell death fate induced by venom are unclear. In the present work, the action of the South American rattlesnake Crotalus durissus terrificus venom on CHO-K1 cell line was analyzed. The cells CHO-K1 were incubated with C. d. terrificus venom (10, 50 and 100g/ml) for 1 and 24 hours, and structural alterations of actin filaments, endoplasmic reticulum and nucleus were assessed using specific fluorescent probes and agarose gel electrophoresis for DNA fragmentation. Significant structural changes were observed in all analyzed structures. DNA fragmentation was detected suggesting that, at the concentrations used, the venom induced apoptosis.
Highlights
While envenomation by snakes of the Bothrops genus produce marked and local effects such as edema, hemorrhage, necrosis and pain [12, 18], envenomation by the South American rattlesnake, Crotalus durissus terrificus, mainly causes neurotoxicity, followed by renal damage and myoglobinuria, as well as relatively mild local effects – pain and some swelling [20]
A decrease of actin dynamics might lead to pores or channels that open for a prolonged time, reducing membrane potential and increasing the release of reactive oxigen species (ROS) into the cytoplasm [15]
Endoplasmic reticulum stress has signaled apoptosis through a mitochondrialdependent pathway by activating Bcl-2/Bcl-XL-associated death promoter (BAD), perhaps through the dephosphorylation of serine by a Ca2+-dependent phosphatase, calcineurin, which is activated by an increase in cytoplasmic Ca2+ concentration [31, 39]
Summary
While envenomation by snakes of the Bothrops genus produce marked and local effects such as edema, hemorrhage, necrosis and pain [12, 18], envenomation by the South American rattlesnake, Crotalus durissus terrificus, mainly causes neurotoxicity, followed by renal damage and myoglobinuria, as well as relatively mild local effects – pain and some swelling [20]. Terrificus venom has revealed the presence of various toxins (convulxin, crotamine, crotoxin and gyroxin) and enzymes [5, 11], some of which may exert a potentially damaging effect on cells. Some of these components can induce in treated cells a type of cell death known as apoptosis [5, 23, 26, 40]. The aim of the present work was, to determine the effect of crotalid venom on CHO-K1 cells, its action on actin filaments, endoplasmic reticulum and nucleus
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