THE LETHAL EFFECT OF LEIURUS QUINQUESTRIATUS VENOM ON ADULT AND WEANLING ALBINO MICE WITH EVALUATING ITS EFFECTS ON SOME BIOCHEMICAL PARAMETERS | ||
| Egyptian Journal of Zoology | ||
| Article 23, Volume 60, Issue 60, December 2013, Pages 429-441 | ||
| Document Type: Original Research Papers | ||
| DOI: 10.12816/0003302 | ||
| Author | ||
| W. M. Salama* | ||
| Zoology Department, Faculty of Science, Tanta University, Tanta, Egypt | ||
| Abstract | ||
| Leiurus quinquestriatus is a dangerous scorpion belongs to family Buthidae. It secretes one of the most noxious venoms among buthid scorpions, and is responsible for very serious human incidents especially in Upper Egypt. Scorpion venom has shown to be more deleterious to children than adults. In the present work, different venom doses (1, 0.5, 0.25 and 0.125 µg/g of body weight) were injected intra-peritoneal (IP) to compare the acute toxicity by median lethal doses (LD50) using both adult (male & female) and weanling albino mice. Moreover, the effect of the same venom doses on some biochemical parameters of adult albino mice after a period of 24 hours was evaluated. The results indicated that all venom doses were more toxic to weanling mice with 100% mortality rate than adult ones. Median lethal doses were calculated using probit analysis and the results showed that adult female mice were around two times more sensitive to the venom (LD50 = 0.09 µg/g of body weight) than male rats (LD50= 0.2 µg/g of body weight). The activity of liver enzymes; alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) were significantly increased with 1, 0.5 and 0.25 µg/g venom doses, while alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity increased significantly only with 1 and 0.5 µg/g venom doses. These enzymes provide functional support to liver in maintaining metabolic equilibrium. Meanwhile, urea and creatinine levels increased with 0.5 µg/g venom doses. It can be concluded that children are more sensitive to scorpion venom than adults, which may be due to the higher concentration of circulating venom in the body of weanling albino mice. Also, males were more resistant to venom than females. Furthermore, L. quinquestriatus crude venom caused hepatic dysfunction in envenomed animal. | ||
| Keywords | ||
| Acute toxicity; biochemical parameters; Buthid scorpion; LD50 | ||
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