DETECTION AND NEUTRALIZATION OF B-JARARACA VENOM IN MICE

1. Bothrops jararaca venom was detected by ELISA at different times in the skin, muscle, blood, liver, lung, heart, kidney and spleen of mic e injected with venom im or id. 2. The results showed that even 10 min after im injection the venom is detected mostly in skin rather than i n the muscle of the venom injection site. A small amount of venom was detected in the kidney up to 12 h after im venom injection, and none w as detected in tissues of lung, heart, liver or spleen. 3. However, in mice injected id, the venom could be detected in the skin up to 24 h after injection. Local necrosis and haemorrhage could be neutralized b y antivenom injected by the id or iv routes only if the antivenom was given a short time after venom injection, even when antivenom is admin istered in high concentration. 4. In contrast, experiments performed i n mice receiving venom id and treated by id or iv routes with antiveno m injected at different times after envenoming showed that the effect of venom on blood coagulation could be counteracted by antivenom admin istered by either route up to 2 h after venom injection. 5. We suggest that a feasible amount of antivenom administered id could be given as a first aid measure after a snake bite accident. However, further exp erimental studies using the id route for antivenom administration are essential to confirm this possibility