Abstract
Bothrops atrox is responsible for the majority of snakebite accidents in Brazilian Amazon and its venom can cause prominent local tissue damage. Experimental groups consisted of five male mice, each administered either B. atrox Venom (VB), B. atrox Venom + Antivenom (VAV), B. atrox Venom + Laser (VL), B. atrox Venom + Antivenom + Laser (VAVL), or Sterile Saline Solution (SSS) alone. Paw oedema was induced by intradermal administration of 0.05 mg kg-1 of B. atrox venom and was expressed in mm of directly induced oedema. Mice were subcutaneously injected with 0.10 mg kg-1 of venom for evaluation nociceptive activity and the time (in seconds) spent in licking and biting responses of the injected paw were taken as an indicator of pain response. Inflammatory infiltration was determined by counting the number of leukocytes present in the gastrocnemius muscle after venom injection (0.10 mg kg-1). Myotoxicity was studied by determining the plasmatic rise of creatine kinase activity after venom injection (0.20 mg kg-1). For histological examination of myonecrosis, venom (0.10 mg kg-1) was administered intramuscularly. The site of venom injection was irradiated by GaAs laser and some animals received antivenom intraperitoneally. GaAs laser irradiation administered in conjunction with antivenom, reduced pain, oedema, inflammation and myonecrosis induced by B. atrox venom in mice. The combined antivenom and GaAs laser treatment was more effective than separately treatments. The results suggest that laser therapy may reduce the local effects induced by B. atrox venom when associated with antivenom.
Highlights
Envenoming resulting from snake bites is a important public health problem in Amazon Brazilian
At the end 72 h, it can be observed significant reduction of paw edema in the Venom + Antivenom + Laser (VAVL) and Venom + Antivenom (VAV) groups when compared to VB group animals administered only with B. atrox venom
The results showed that GaAs laser and antivenom (VAV, Venom + Laser (VL) and VAVL groups) were not able to inhibit increase on plasma CK activity when compared to VB control group
Summary
Envenoming resulting from snake bites is a important public health problem in Amazon Brazilian. Significant numbers of these accidents occur annually and generally are caused by Bothrops snake. Other therapeutic alternatives have been proposed to complement the treatment of local effects caused by bothropic venom, such as the use of plant extracts (Silva et al, 2005), Corresponding Author: Elziliam Aranha de Sousa, Laboratório de Toxicologia, Curso de Ciências Farmacêuticas, Universidade Federal do Amapá, Macapá, AP, Brazil. Elziliam Aranha de Sousa et al / American Journal of Pharmacology and Toxicology 7 (4) (2012) 141-148 synthetic drugs (Lomonte et al, 2009) and low power laser (Barbosa et al, 2008). Causing an increase in phagocytosis by increasing the number of macrophages and oxygen, acting as biomodulator or normalizing cell (Díaz et al, 2009)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
