Departamento de Fisiologia e Farmacologia, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Fortaleza, Brazil.
Centro Acadêmico de Vitória, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Vitória de Santo Antão, Brazil.
Curr Top Med Chem. 2019;19(22):2003-2031. doi: 10.2174/1568026619666190723153925.
Snakebite envenomation is an important health problem in tropical countries, with severe human and social consequences. In Latin America, the Bothrops species constitute the main threat to humans, and the envenomation caused by these species quickly develops into severe local tissue damage, including swelling, hemorrhaging, myonecrosis, skin ulceration, and pain. The systemic effects of envenomation are usually neutralized by antivenom serum therapy, despite its intrinsic risks. However, neutralization of local tissue damage remains a challenge. To improve actual therapy, two major alternatives are proposed: the rational design of new specific antibodies for most of the tissue damaging/ poor immunogenic toxins, or the search for new synthetic or natural compounds which are able to inhibit these toxins and complement the serum therapy. Natural compounds isolated from plants, mainly from those used in folk medicine to treat snakebite, are a good choice for finding new lead compounds to improve snakebite treatment and minimize its consequences for the victims. In this article, we reviewed the most promising plants and phytocompounds active against bothropic venoms.
蛇伤是热带国家的一个重要健康问题，对人类和社会造成严重影响。在拉丁美洲，矛头蝮属的蛇类对人类构成主要威胁，这些蛇类的毒液会迅速导致严重的局部组织损伤，包括肿胀、出血、肌坏死、皮肤溃疡和疼痛。尽管抗蛇毒血清治疗存在内在风险，但通常可以中和蛇伤引起的全身效应。然而，局部组织损伤的中和仍然是一个挑战。为了改进实际治疗，提出了两种主要的替代方案：针对大多数具有组织损伤/低免疫原性毒素的新型特异性抗体的合理设计，或寻找能够抑制这些毒素并补充血清治疗的新型合成或天然化合物。从植物中分离出的天然化合物，主要来自用于治疗蛇伤的民间药物，是寻找新的先导化合物以改善蛇伤治疗和减轻其对受害者后果的一个很好的选择。本文综述了对抗矛头蝮属蛇毒最有前途的植物和植物化合物。
