Abstract
Naja naja snake venom presents abundant thermostable peptides. Many of them possess useful pharmacological activity that may be employed for drug development. For the proteomic characterization of such toxins, in the present study, Naja naja venom solution was heated up to 100°C for 10, 30, 60, 120, 180 and 300 minutes and protein fractions of non-heated and heated venom were analyzed by two-dimensional nano-liquid chromatography coupled online with tandem mass spectrometry. After heating for 300 minutes, a total of 32 peptides were still detected in the supernatant. The identified peptides belong to the following groups: cardiotoxins, neurotoxins and cytotoxins. It was found that thermostable peptides are able to preserve their analgesic activity after a long heating time in formalin test. Mice injected with 15 μg/g of 60-minute heated venom or with 25 μg/g of 300-minute heated venom revealed even a better analgesic activity than those treated with lidocaine.
Highlights
Naja naja is one of the most dangerous snake species in tropical and subtropical countries, where it provokes a high number of human deaths due to envenomations
Results of previous research showed that Naja naja cobra venom contains several proteins and peptides with enzymatic and non-enzymatic activities that belong to different groups including phospholipases A2 (PLA2), cardiotoxins and neurotoxins
Proteins could be classified into eight different groups – according to their putative biological activities – namely: cardiotoxin, cytotoxin, neurotoxin, cobra venom factor, L-amino acid oxidase, PLA2, natrin-1 and zinc metalloproteinase (Table 1)
Summary
Naja naja is one of the most dangerous snake species in tropical and subtropical countries, where it provokes a high number of human deaths due to envenomations. Numerous biochemical studies on its venom have been carried out, so that different components were isolated from the venom toxins and structurally and biologically characterized [1,2,3]. Results of previous research showed that Naja naja cobra venom contains several proteins and peptides with enzymatic and non-enzymatic activities that belong to different groups including phospholipases A2 (PLA2), cardiotoxins and neurotoxins. An increasing number of new proteins is being isolated from cobra venom and documented [4, 5]. Due to recent developments in mass spectrometry (MS) for the identification of proteins, global analysis of snake venom has been performed, improving the knowledge on venom toxin composition. A main concern regarding the proteomic analysis of snake venom is that proteins and peptides present a wide range of quantitative distribution. The quantitation of identified proteins depends on preparatory procedures of materials
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