Institute for Drug Research, School of Pharmacy, Faculty of Medicine, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, POB 12065, Jerusalem 91120, Israel.
Toxins (Basel). 2013 Jul 29;5(8):1332-42. doi: 10.3390/toxins5081332.
The effect of the venom of the Chactoid family of scorpions on blood pressure was scantly investigated and was addressed in the present study using the venom of the Israeli scorpion, Scorpio maurus palmatus. Blood pressure in rats was monitored via cannulated femoral artery, while venom and toxins were introduced into femoral vein. Venom injection elicited a biphasic effect, expressed first by a fast and transient hypotensive response, which lasted up to 10 min, followed by a hypertensive response, which lasted up to one hour. It was found that these effects resulted from different venom components. Phospholipase A₂ produced the hypotensive effect, while a non-enzymatic neurotoxic polypeptide fraction produced the hypertensive effect. Surprisingly, the main neurotoxic polypeptide to mice had no effect on blood pressure. In vitro experiments indicated that the hypertensive factors caused histamine release from the peritoneal mast cells, but this effect is assumed to be not relevant to their in vivo effect. In spite of the cytotoxic activity of phospholipase A₂, it did not release histamine. These findings suggest that the effects of venom and isolated fractions on blood pressure parameters are mediated by different mechanisms, which deserve further pharmacological investigation.
对 Chactoid 科蝎子的毒液对血压的影响的研究甚少，本研究使用以色列蝎子 Scorpio maurus palmatus 的毒液来解决这个问题。通过股动脉插管监测大鼠的血压，同时将毒液和毒素注入股静脉。毒液注射引起双相效应，首先表现为快速短暂的低血压反应，持续长达 10 分钟，然后是持续长达一小时的高血压反应。结果发现，这些效应是由不同的毒液成分引起的。磷脂酶 A₂ 产生降压作用，而非酶神经毒性多肽部分产生升压作用。令人惊讶的是，对小鼠有主要神经毒性的多肽对血压没有影响。体外实验表明，高血压因子引起腹腔肥大细胞释放组胺，但这种作用与它们的体内作用无关。尽管磷脂酶 A₂具有细胞毒性活性，但它不会释放组胺。这些发现表明，毒液和分离的组分对血压参数的影响是由不同的机制介导的，值得进一步进行药理学研究。
