Gutiérrez J M, Avila C, Camacho Z, Lomonte B
Instituto Clodomiro Picado, Facultad de Microbiología, Universidad de Costa Rica, San José.
Toxicon. 1990;28(4):419-26. doi: 10.1016/0041-0101(90)90080-q.
A comparative study was performed on some enzymatic and toxic activities of venoms collected from newborn, one-year old, two-years old and adult (more than five-years old) specimens of Lachesis muta stenophrys. There was an increase in lethal, hemorrhagic, edema-forming, myotoxic, proteolytic and phospholipase A2 activities of venoms as snakes aged. The venom of newborn specimens was almost devoid of toxicity. On the other hand, venom from newborn specimens showed the highest coagulant effect of human plasma. Electrophoretic and immunochemical results demonstrated conspicuous differences between venoms of different ages. Observations on the feeding behavior indicated that specimens of L. muta of different ages displayed a similar pattern, characterized by rapid strike and bite, holding the prey until they stopped their movements and swallowing them afterwards. It is concluded that venom of newborn L. muta has very low toxic and proteolytic activities and that it undergoes conspicuous changes during the first year of life.
对从新生、一岁、两岁和成年（五岁以上）的矛头蝮窄头亚种标本采集的毒液的一些酶活性和毒性进行了比较研究。随着蛇龄的增长，毒液的致死、出血、形成水肿、肌毒性、蛋白水解和磷脂酶A2活性增加。新生标本的毒液几乎没有毒性。另一方面，新生标本的毒液对人血浆的凝血作用最高。电泳和免疫化学结果表明不同年龄的毒液之间存在明显差异。对捕食行为的观察表明，不同年龄的矛头蝮标本表现出相似的模式，其特点是快速攻击和撕咬，抓住猎物直到它们停止移动，然后将其吞下。得出的结论是，新生矛头蝮的毒液具有非常低的毒性和蛋白水解活性，并且在生命的第一年中会发生明显变化。
