Biochemical characterization and comparative analysis of venoms from juvenile and adult Bothrops pictus snakes from three geographical regions of Peru

Gualberto M.C.; Jordano E.B.; Armando Y.C. · Revista de Investigaciones Veterinarias del Peru (2025) · DOI: 10.15381/rivep.v36i3.28155

Resumen

The present study evaluated the effect of ontogenetic and biogeographic variability on the biochemical characteristics of the venom of the snake Bothrops pictus. Fresh venoms collected from juvenile and adult specimens from the departments of Lima (Huarochirí and Santa Eulalia), Arequipa (Caravelí) and Ayacucho (Pullo) were used. It was found that venoms from juvenile snakes have a higher concentration of total proteins (0.6 mg protein/mg venom) compared to that of adult specimens (0.4 mg protein/mg venom). In addition, significant differences were found in the relative abundance of proteins between venoms by locality. Electrophoretic analysis by SDS-PAGE revealed recognizable protein bands of similar size (9.2 to 100 kDa) in adult and juvenile venoms, while venoms from Santa Eulalia and Huarochirí present an additional band (10 bands) compared to those from Caravelí and Pullo (9 bands). Despite the similarity of the electrophoretic patterns, a high variability in the enzymatic activities was exhibited, with amidolytic (0.11 U/mg), proteolytic (0.11 U/mg) and phospholipase (31.6 U/mg) being considerably higher in adult venoms than in juveniles, while hyaluronidase activity (2.00 U/mg) was significantly higher in juveniles. On the other hand, there were no important differences in amidolytic and caseinolytic activities between venoms according to locality; however, phospholipase (5.6 to 12.4 U/mg) and L-amino acid oxidase (0.7x10-4 to 2.3x10-4) activities were from lowest to highest in the venoms of snakes from Santa Eulalia, Huarochirí and Pullo-Caravelí, while the latter exhibited the lowest coagulant activity (0.09 U/mg). ©Los autores. Este artículo es publicado por la Rev Inv Vet Perú de la Facultad de Medicina Veterinaria, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos. Este es un artículo de acceso abierto, distribuido bajo los términos de la licencia Creative Commons Atribución 4.0 Internacional (CC BY 4.0) [https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.es]

Instituciones: Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos