Bothriurus bonariensis scorpion venom activates voltage-dependent sodium channels in insect and mammalian nervous systems.
Animal venoms have been widely recognized as a major source of biologically active molecules. Bothriurus bonariensis, popularly known as black scorpion, is the arthropod responsible for the highest number of accidents involving scorpion sting in Southern Brazil. Here we reported the first attempt to investigate the neurobiology of B. bonariensis venom (BBV) in the insect and mammalian nervous system. BBV (32 μg/g) induced a slow neuromuscular blockade in the in vivo cockroach nerve-muscle preparations (70 ± 4%, n = 6, p < 0.001), provoking repetitive twitches and significantly decreasing the frequency of spontaneous leg action potentials (SNCAPs) from 82 ± 3 min(-1) to 36 ± 1.3 min(-1) (n = 6, p < 0.05), without affecting the amplitude. When tested in primary cultures of rat hippocampal cells, BBV induced a massive increase of Ca(2+) influx (250 ± 1% peak increase, n = 3, p < 0.0001). The disturbance of calcium homeostasis induced by BBV on the mammalian central nervous system was not accompanied by cellular death and was prevented by the co-treatment of the hippocampal cells with tetrodotoxin, a selective sodium channel blocker. The results suggest that the biological activity of BBV is mostly related to a modulation of sodium channels function. Our biological activity survey suggests that BBV may have a promising insecticidal and therapeutic potential.
['Dos Santos|Douglas Silva|DS|', 'Carvalho|Evelise Leis|EL|', 'de Lima|Jeferson Camargo|JC|', 'Breda|Ricardo Vaz|RV|', 'Oliveira|Raquel Soares|RS|', 'de Freitas|Thiago Carrazoni|TC|', 'Salamoni|Simone Denise|SD|', 'Domingues|Michelle Flores|MF|', 'Piovesan|Angela Regina|AR|', 'Boldo|Juliano Tomazzoni|JT|', 'de Assis|Dênis Reis|DR|', 'da Costa|Jaderson Costa|JC|', 'Dal Belo|Cháriston André|CA|', 'Pinto|Paulo Marcos|PM|']
D000200:Action Potentials D000818:Animals D002118:Calcium D002470:Cell Survival D002478:Cells, Cultured D003058:Cockroaches D005121:Extremities D005260:Female D006624:Hippocampus D015640:Ion Channel Gating D007700:Kinetics D008297:Male D008322:Mammals D009420:Nervous System D009469:Neuromuscular Junction D017208:Rats, Wistar D012604:Scorpion Venoms D012605:Scorpions D015222:Sodium Channels D013779:Tetrodotoxin
Arthropods Neuromuscular blockade Calcium influx Neurotoxicity Poison