Abstract
Several countries residing envenomation due to Naja naja had revealed a disparity in the venom composition according to their geographic location and Sri Lankan cobra still lacks the evidence to support this. Therefore, the current study was focused on addressing relationship between the histopathological changes according to geographic variation of Sri Lankan N. naja venom. The histopathological changes in vital organs and muscle tissues following intramuscular administration of venom of N. naja were studied using BALB/c mice. The median lethal dose of venom of N. naja in the present study was determined to be 0.55, 0.66, 0.68, 0.62, and 0.7 mg/kg for North (NRP), Central (CRP), Western, Southern, and Sabaragamuwa Regional Population venoms, respectively. Histopathological changes were observed in different levels in vital organs and muscle tissues of mice. NRP accompanied significantly higher infiltration of inflammatory and necrotic cells into skeletal muscle and CRP venom demonstrated high level of cardiotoxic effects comparing to other regions. This study revealed a certain extent of variations in the pathological effects of N. naja venom samples according to their geographical distribution.
Highlights
Many tropical and subtropical countries siding with the serious medical concern of envenomation report an approximate annual rate of 90000 accidental human deaths due to snakebites [1,2,3]
Seventy-seven adult cobras were collected from five distinct geographic areas of mainland Sri Lanka varying from several geographic characters such as rainfall, forest type, altitude, and moisture [20 specimens from Western Region Population (WRP), 21 specimens from Central Region Population (CRP), 15 specimens from North Region Population (NRP), 11 specimens Sabaragamuwa Region Population (SARP), and 10 specimens
The histological and serum biochemical data of this study contributed towards revealing the specific pathological effect of N. naja venom on rodent vital organs and skeletal muscle tissue and this illustration supports identification of possible toxic effect on any envenomed animal by N. naja in Sri Lanka
Summary
Many tropical and subtropical countries siding with the serious medical concern of envenomation report an approximate annual rate of 90000 accidental human deaths due to snakebites [1,2,3]. Being a tropical country with diverse climatic and geographical distribution, Sri Lanka provides an excellent natural habitat for both venomous and nonvenomous snakes and this contributes to demonstrating a significant approximate rate of 37000 snakebites cases [4, 5]. Most of the countries including Sri Lanka residing this topic of envenomation have categorized the venomous snakes responsible according to the severity of their toxicity. In this classification, Asian cobra is recognized as one of the highly venomous snakes. Asian cobra including Naja naja (Figure 1) species in Sri Lanka, which taxonomically belongs to family Elapidae, is well known for its envenomation cases due to its unique haemorrhagic, hemolytic, inflammatory, and necrotic effects on different organs leading to multiple organ failure [6]. Hydrolytic enzymes of PLA2, hyaluronidase, caseinolytic AMPase, and ATPase when combined with cytotoxic neurotoxins, cobramines, membranotoxins, and cardiotoxins contribute progressively to exerting their main expected activity of immobilizing and digesting the venom
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