Comparative characterisation of Russell's viper (Daboia/Vipera russelli) venoms from different regions of the Indian peninsula

Russell's viper (Daboia/Vipera russelli) venom from different regions of In dia was subjected to chromatographic, electrophoretic, biochemical and immu nological analysis. The elution profiles from ion-exchange chromatography a nd protein banding pattern from SDS-PAGE showed a significant variation in the constituents of venoms. The acidic proteins are found to be predominant in the venoms of eastern and western regions while basic proteins are the major contributors of the northern and southern regional venoms. The major variation of phospholipases A(2) in the venom samples of India may be descr ibed as: southern regional venom is rich in basic, toxic PLA(2) while this activity showed a dramatic decrease as one moves towards west, north and ea stern regions of India. In addition, the caseinolytic, TAME-hydrolytic, ant icoagulant, oedema-inducing and haemorrhagic activities of the venoms have also varied from one region to another. The muscle specimens of mice inject ed with venoms of different regions showed variable change in the muscle fi bre damage and cell morphology. The eastern regional venom is most lethal a mong all the venoms. The lethal potencies for four regional venoms vary as: eastern > western > southern > northern. The polyclonal antibodies prepare d against the venom of southern region showed cross-reaction with the venom s of other regions, but the extent of cross-reaction and diffusion patterns are different. However, the polyclonal antibodies prepared against souther n regional venom showed no protection against lethal toxicity of other regi onal venoms. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.