Atividade biológica do veneno de Rhinella Icterica (Anura: Bufonidae) sobre o sistema nervoso de vertebrados.

Abstract

Animal poisons are sources of bioactive compounds with therapeutic applicability. Anurans through parotid glands produce a poisonous secretion rich in compounds of different chemicalclasses, that have a range of pharmacological activities of biotechnological interest. oads of the species Rhinella icterica (Spix, 1824), belong to a group of poisonous animals present in the Pampa biome that still need to pharmacological and toxicological studies. Venom collection was made by milking toads obtained at Derrubadas region, Rio Grande do Sul state. The venom was previously treated by methanol extraction followed by lyophilization (thus called MERIV), before the biological assays. The venom neurobiology was evaluated on chicks neuromuscular junction by preparation biventer cervicis (BCP), and by function of mitochondrial dehydrogenases in hippocampal brain slices from mice. Incubation of MERIV (5, 10, 20 and 40 μg/mL) or digoxin (6.5, 13, 26 and 52 nM) with mice hippocampal brain slices induced a dose-dependent effect on cell viability. At low concentration MERIV (5 μg/mL) and digoxin (6.5 and 13 nM) induced a corresponding significative increases in cell viability, 36 ± 10%, 52 ± 7% and 57 ± 13% (p<0.05), respectively, while at higher concentrations there were a decrease in cell viability compared with control Hepes (n=6). In chicks neuromuscular preparation BCP, MERIV (5, 10 µg/mL) produced a facilitatory effect of 60 ± 15% and 46 ± 6%, respectively, followed by neuromuscular blockade in 120 min recordings (n=6, p <0.05). The incubation of BCP with digoxin (52 nM) or ouabain (0.2 nM) mimicked the venom activity by increasing the amplitude of the twitches by 19 ± 4% and 27 ± 6%, respectively, followed by a depression in muscle contraction recorded for 120 min ( 80 ± 4% and 91± 5%, p<0.05, respectively, n=5). MERIV also demonstrated digitalic-like activity inhibiting 39 ± 3% of Na+,K+-ATPase (n = 4, p <0.05). In BCP, when MERIV was incubated for 20 min before d-Tubocurarine (1.45 μM), there was a reinforcement of the neuromuscular blockade, wich was complete at 80 min. However, in preparations “curarizadas”, incubated with d-Tubocurarine (1.45 μM) before MERIV, there was a increase in the blocking time at 50 min, similar to the action of acetylcholinesterase drugs. Altogether, these data indicate that the methanolic extract from R. icterica venom is able to interfere in neurotransmission, probably by inhibiting the enzymes acetylcholinesterase and Na+,K+- ATPase.