Currently, the use of antivenoms is the only available treatment for envenomation caused by venomous animals namely, snake, scorpion, spider, tick and jelly fish. Antivenoms are generally produced in large animals, mostly in horses. A large percentage of the population is allergic to horse proteins. Several animals are known to be resistant to snakebites and the antihemorrhagic and anti-lethal components have been isolated from sera of opossum, mongoose, meerkat and hedgehog, as well as from venomous and non-venomous snakes. Anti-lethal factor named Lethal Toxin Neutralizing Factor (LTNF) has been isolated in purity from opossum (Didelphis virginiana) serum by high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC). The molecular weight of LTNF is 63 kDa, and it does not form precipitation with venoms or toxins by immunodiffusion. Death due to intraperitoneal (IP) injection of a predetermined lethal dose of venom from major families of snakes, for instance Crotalidae, Elapidae, Viperidae and Hydrophiidae, is prevented in mice by subsequent IP inoculation of LTNF. Furthermore, LTNF neutralizes the lethality of scorpion and bee venoms and toxins from various animals, plants and bacteria. Thus, natural LTNF from opossum serum has potential as a universal therapy for envenomation caused by animals, plants and bacteria.
Opossum; Didelphis virginiana; lethal toxin neutralizing factor
