Schumacher M J, Schmidt J O, Egen N B, Lowry J E
University of Arizona, Tucson.
Am J Trop Med Hyg. 1990 Jul;43(1):79-86. doi: 10.4269/ajtmh.1990.43.79.
Venom from Africanized honey bees (derived mainly from Apis mellifera scutellata) was compared with venom from domestic, European bees by study of lethality, immunological cross-reactivity, venom yield, isoelectric focusing (IEF) patterns, and melittin titers. The LD50s of European and Africanized bee venom by iv injection in mice were similar. In venom neutralization experiments, Africanized bee venom was mixed with antibodies from a beekeeper exposed only to European bees and used to challenge mice. Survival times of mice given these mixtures were significantly prolonged, indicating that human serum antibodies to European bee venom neutralized the lethal effects of Africanized bee venom. Reservoirs from Africanized bees contained less venom than European bees (94 and 147 micrograms venom/bee, respectively) and Africanized bee venom had a lower melittin content. The IEF patterns of venom from individual European bees varied considerably, as did IEF patterns of individual Africanized bees. Pools of venom from 1,000 bees of each population of A. mellifera showed noticeable but less obvious electrophoretic differences. The findings suggest that multiple stinging, and not increased venom potency or delivery, is the cause of serious reactions from Africanized bee attacks.
通过对致死率、免疫交叉反应性、毒液产量、等电聚焦（IEF）图谱和蜂毒肽滴度的研究，将非洲化蜜蜂（主要源自东非蜜蜂）的毒液与家养欧洲蜜蜂的毒液进行了比较。静脉注射小鼠时，欧洲蜜蜂和非洲化蜜蜂毒液的半数致死量（LD50）相似。在毒液中和实验中，并将非洲化蜜蜂毒液与仅接触欧洲蜜蜂的养蜂人的抗体混合，用于攻击小鼠。给予这些混合物的小鼠存活时间显著延长，这表明人血清中针对欧洲蜜蜂毒液的抗体可中和非洲化蜜蜂毒液的致死作用。非洲化蜜蜂的储毒囊所含毒液比欧洲蜜蜂少（分别为每只蜜蜂94微克和147微克毒液），且非洲化蜜蜂毒液的蜂毒肽含量较低。个体欧洲蜜蜂毒液的IEF图谱差异很大，个体非洲化蜜蜂毒液的IEF图谱也是如此。来自每个意大利蜜蜂种群的1000只蜜蜂的毒液池显示出明显但不太显著的电泳差异。研究结果表明，多次蜇刺而非毒液效力或释放量增加，是非洲化蜜蜂攻击导致严重反应的原因。
