Showing papers in "Toxicon in 2012"

TL;DR: The landscape of spider-venom peptides that have so far been described to target vertebrate or invertebrate Na(V) channels are reviewed, with some of these peptides having become useful pharmacological tools, while others have potential as therapeutic leads because they target specific Na( V) channel subtypes that are considered to be important analgesic targets.

TL;DR: The journey that has led to the developed ShK-186, a synthetic analog of ShK, is described, which is being developed as a therapeutic for autoimmune diseases, and is scheduled to begin first-in-man phase-1 trials in 2011.

TL;DR: The molecular basis of developing therapeutic agents, such as Captopril, Tirofiban, and Eptifibatide, from snake venom proteins are highlighted.

TL;DR: The type of information provided by UniProtKB/Swiss-Prot for toxins, as well as the structured format of the knowledgebase are described.

TL;DR: The contentious issue of a definition for "venom" is discussed, supporting an evolutionary definition that recognises the homology of both the venom delivery systems and the toxins themselves.

TL;DR: The development of Byetta (synthetic exendin-4; exenatide) as a treatment of diabetes arose from two, parallel lines of investigation, the development of the 'incretin concept' which hypothesised that hormones from the gut contributed to the insulin secretion in response to meals, and the identification of glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) as an important ' incretin' hormone.

TL;DR: Four proposed models of their functional "toxic site" are summarized, and some novel insights into their mode of action are discussed, in particular examining arguments and experimental observations that could shed light on the possible nature of their membrane target on skeletal muscle cells, which remains elusive.

TL;DR: This article focuses on the main Iranian scorpions and their geographical distribution, especially those which are medically important and considered to be the more dangerous to human, and also attempts to demonstrate an accurate magnitude of scorpion stings in Iran.

TL;DR: The biological functions of SV-LAAOs and relevant action mechanisms are summarized and discussed in the review and might provide useful inputs for future studies on SV- LAAOs.

TL;DR: The aim of the present article is to reveal that the snake proline-rich oligopeptides, known as bradykinin-potentiating peptides, are still a source of surprising scientific discoveries, some of them useful not only to reveal potential new targets but also to introduce prospective lead molecules for drug development.

TL;DR: Dutch recreational waters are at this moment only screened for pelagic cyanobacterial species, the current bathing water protocol therefore does not protect humans and animals from negative effects of blooms of benthic cyanobacteria.

TL;DR: Immunotherapy was prescribed in one out of three snakebites in Europe, with a very high geographical variability, in spite of excellent tolerance, at least considering highly-purified immunoglobulin fragments.

TL;DR: A second generation antivenomics protocol, based on affinity chromatography, was compared with a previously (first generation) immunodepletion protocol, indicating that both methods can be used interchangeably to investigate the in vitro immunoreactivity of antivenoms.

TL;DR: Four new compounds with high similarity to azaspiracids were detected in three species/strains, i.e. in North Sea isolates of Azadinium poporum, in a Korean isolate which has been designated as A. spinosum and in Amphidoma languida isolated from Bantry Bay, Ireland.

TL;DR: Rhodocetin is a selective α2β1 integrin antagonist consisting of four distinct subunits forming a novel cruciform structure that is lead structures for the development of antimetastatic and antiangiogenic drugs.

TL;DR: Results demonstrate that Batroxase is a zinc-dependent hemorrhagic metalloproteinase with fibrin(ogen)olytic and thrombolytic activity and was able to dissolvefibrin clots independently of plasminogen activation.

TL;DR: Improvements in antivenom quality and availability should be based on strategies tailored to the situation of each region or country; in this context, three different scenarios are discussed.

TL;DR: The data and analysis of a large number of sequences obtained from high throughput 454 sequencing technology using venom ducts of Conus consors enabled to detect proteins involved in common post-translational maturation and folding, and to reveal compounds classically involved in hemolysis and mechanical penetration of the venom into the prey.

TL;DR: The results highlight the importance to monitoring the presence of these dinoflagellates whose effects may also be reflected on the early life stages of marine organisms, especially those species that are important from both an ecological and economic point of view, as the sea urchins are.

TL;DR: This review incorporates the current trends in the development of biosensors for microcystin detection in the light of state-of-the-art techniques.

TL;DR: Data indicates that the effects observed on lower organisms are also evident in a human model of BMAA, and it is shown that BMAA induces the expression of neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) and caspase-3 indicating that it can stimulate apoptosis in human neurons.

TL;DR: Evaluated the antiviral activity of crude venom and isolated toxins from Crotalus durissus terrificus snake and found that phospholipases A₂ showed a high inhibition of Yellow fever and dengue viruses in VERO E6 cells.

TL;DR: The results of the current study suggest that aflatoxins could compromise the macrophages functions; in particular, co-exposure to AFB1, AFB2, AFM1 and AFM2 may exert interactions which can significantly affect immunoreactivity.

TL;DR: An HPLC-APCI-MS method to detect and quantify MFA was developed and was used to investigate plant material from field collections and/or herbarium specimens of Mascagnia, Amorimia, and Palicourea species suspected of causing sudden death.

TL;DR: LmLAAO showed low systemic toxicity but important in vitro pharmacological actions and showed a catalytic preference for hydrophobic amino acids.

TL;DR: The principles of conotoxins cyclization are illustrated with applications to the α- and χ- conotoxin classes, which have been implicated as leads for the treatment of pain and a range of other disorders including neuroprotection, schizophrenia, depression and cancer.

TL;DR: LC-MS/MS analysis showed that high concentrations of okadaic acid, dinophysistoxin-1, and their acyl esters were responsible for the incidents and it shows that high levels of lipophilic toxins can accumulate in shellfish from the Chinese coast.

TL;DR: To elucidate the toxin-channel surface of interaction at both receptor sites and clarify the molecular basis of varying toxin preferences, an efficient bacterial system for their expression in recombinant form was established and mutagenesis accompanied by toxicity, binding and electrophysiological assays uncovered a bipartite bioactive surface in toxin representatives of all pharmacological groups.

TL;DR: This review serves to highlight pain-producing toxins that target the capsaicin receptor, TRPV1, or members of the acid-sensing ion channel family, and to discuss the utility of venom-derived multivalent and multimeric complexes.

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors applied snake gland transcriptomics to a wide taxonomical diversity of advanced snakes and recovered transcripts encoding three novel protein scaffolds lacking sequence homology to any previously characterised snake toxin type: lipocalin, phospholipase A2 (type IIE), and vitelline membrane outer layer protein.