THE EFFECT OF THE DESERT-COBRA (WALTERINNESIA-AEGYPTIA) CRUDE VENOM AND ITS PROTEIN-FRACTIONS ON THE METABOLIC-ACTIVITY OF CULTURED HUMAN FIBROBLASTS

Fibroblast cultures were used to study the effect of crude venom and s ix venom protein fractions (F-2-F-7) from Walterinnesia aegyptia on th eir metabolic activity. This was done by incubation of six fibroblast cultures with 10 mu g of crude venom for 3 h at 37 degrees C. The acti vities of phosphofructokinase, lactate dehydrogenase, and citrate synt hase were significantly lowered upon incubation with all fractions exc ept F-2. Glycogen phosphorylase activity was significantly increased, leading to a significant concurrent drop of glycogen content. This eff ect was only seen for fractions F-3 and F-5. Creatine kinase activity and cellular ATP levels rose significantly upon incubation with all ve nom proteins except fractions F-2 and F-7. Increases were seen for asp artate and alanine aminotransferases by all venom proteins except frac tions F-2 and F-4. Incubation of cell sonicates with all the venom pro teins did not significantly alter activities of any of the parameters. Thus, fibroblasts in culture under such conditions appear to mobilize glycogen, phosphocreatine, and protein for ATP production to compensa te for decreased glucose.