Purification of the main β-toxin from Tityusserrulatus scorpion venom using high-performance liquid chromatography

Abstract

The venom of the Brazilian scorpion Tityus serrulatus was fractionated using high-performance liquid chromatography which allowed us to purify in two steps the main β-type toxin of the venom. The toxin constituted about 15% of the absorbance at 280 nm and 50% of the toxicity of the venom. According to its amino acid content, its electrophoretic migration on Phast-Gel homogenous 20 and its biological properties both in vivo by intracerebroventricular injection to the mouse ( ld 50 = 30 ng/kg mouse ) and in vitro by competition receptor assay on rat brain synaptosomes ( K 0.5 = 80 pM), the toxin was identified as toxin Ts VII already purified from the same venom using low-pressure liquid chromatography ( Bechis et al., 1984 Biochem. biophys. Res. Commun. 122, 1146). The high-performance liquid chromatographic technique used improved by a factor of four the amount of toxin purified.