Biochemicals characteristics and pre-clinical testing of lyophilized bothropic antivenom against bothrops atrox snake venom

Abstract

Biochemical features and neutralizing capacity of lyophilized bothropic antivenom elaborated by the Peruvian National Health Institute (Lima, Peru). It was found that the antivenom protein contents is 51.4 mg/mL. Lyophilized preparations can be reconstituted in 10 minutes, reaching Abs600nm and pH values reported as 0.091 and 7.0, respectively. Regarding toxicity of the venom for mice, LD50 was 3.33 µg, minimal hemorrhagic dose was 4.10 ± 0.64 µg, minimal myotoxic dose was 30.2 ± 2.5 µg, minimal coagulant dose was 4.50 ± 0.6 µg, and the minimal defibrinating dose was 8 µg; and the effective dose values of the antivenom for the aforementioned parameters were 140.48 (120.09-164.33), 230.67 ± 11.78, 316.56 ± 40.31, 105.5 ± 4.2, and 500 µL antivenom/mg venom, respectively, indicating that this preparation has the ability to neutralize each of the parameters tested. For these reasons we conclude that the investigated product complies with the World Health Organization (WHO) requirements to be considered an effective antivenom capable of neutralizing the main biological activities previously mentioned.