Evaluation of the physiological activity of venom from the Eurasian water shrew Neomys fodiens
Animal toxins can have medical and therapeutic applications. Principally, toxins produced by insects, arachnids, snakes and frogs have been characterized. Venomous mammals are rare, and their venoms have not been comprehensively investigated. Among shrews, only the venom of has been analysed so far,...
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Published in | Frontiers in zoology Vol. 14; no. 1; p. 46 |
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Main Authors | , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
England
BioMed Central Ltd
30.09.2017
BioMed Central BMC |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Animal toxins can have medical and therapeutic applications. Principally, toxins produced by insects, arachnids, snakes and frogs have been characterized. Venomous mammals are rare, and their venoms have not been comprehensively investigated. Among shrews, only the venom of
has been analysed so far, and blarina toxin has been proven to be its main toxic component. It is assumed that
employs its venom to hunt larger prey. However, the toxic profile, properties and mode of action of its venom are largely unknown. Therefore, we analysed the cardio-, myo- and neurotropic properties of
venom and saliva of non-venomous
(control tests) in vitro in physiological bioassays carried out on two model organisms: beetles and frogs. For the first time, we fractionated
venom and
saliva by performing chromatographic separation. Next, the properties of selected compounds were analysed in cardiotropic bioassays in the
heart.
The venom of
caused a high decrease in the conduction velocity of the frog sciatic nerve, as well as a significant decrease in the force of frog calf muscle contraction. We also recorded a significant decrease in the frog heart contractile activity. Most of the selected compounds from
venom displayed a positive chronotropic effect on the beetle heart. However, one fraction caused a strong decrease in the
heart contractile activity coupled with a reversible cardiac arrest. We did not observe any responses of the insect heart and frog organs to the saliva of
. Preliminary mass spectrometry analysis revealed that calmodulin-like protein, thymosin β-10, hyaluronidase, lysozyme C and phospholipase A2 are present in the venom of
, whereas thymosin β4, lysozyme C and β-defensin are present in
saliva.
Our results showed that
venom has stronger paralytic properties and lower cardioinhibitory activity. Therefore, it is highly probable that
might use its venom as a prey immobilizing agent. We also confirmed that
is not a venomous mammal because its saliva did not exhibit any toxic effects. |
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Bibliography: | ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 |
ISSN: | 1742-9994 1742-9994 |
DOI: | 10.1186/s12983-017-0230-0 |