Inhibition of habutobin activities by habu antivenom

Abstract

This study investigated whether habu antivenom inhibits the clotting activity of habutobin, a thrombin-like enzyme from Trimeresurus flavoviridis venom. Habu antivenom, which is available as a commercial antibody against the crude venom of T. flavoviridis, has been used to treat envenoming by T. flavoviridis (the habu snake). The present study was undertaken to determine whether habu antivenom inhibits the activities of habutobin, which involve digestion of the A α chain and release of fibrinopeptide A (FPA) in rabbit fibrinogen. The results of sodium dodecyl sulfate–polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis demonstrated that habu antivenom inhibited the habutobin-induced digestion of the A α chain in rabbit fibrinogen. The results of FPA measurements using competitive enzyme-linked immunoassay (CELIA) revealed that habu antivenom inhibited the release of FPA from rabbit fibrinogen induced by habutobin. In addition, a correlation was noted between the digestion of the A α chain and release of FPA from rabbit fibrinogen. Analysis of the inhibition kinetics of habu antivenom against the habutobin activity yielded a competitive double-reciprocal plot.