Isolamento de uma fração com atividade fosfolipásica do veneno da serpente Bothrops erythromelas

Abstract

Bacterial resistance is a worldwide public health problem requiring new therapeutic options. Animal toxins appear as an alternative to this problem, such as phospholipases isolated from snake venoms that present important biological activities. The Bothrops erythromelas snake has its venom still little studied, being one of the species that arouses great medical-scientific interest in the Northeast region of Brazil, becoming a target for several studies. Therefore, the objective was to isolate and characterize a fraction with phospholipase activity of B.erythromelas by testing its antimicrobial activities. Bradford tests followed by RP-HPLC, MALDI-TOF and Edman degradation were used for compound purification and characterization. The inherent activities of the isolated fraction were determined using enzymatic and hemolytic tests, antibacterial tests with bacterial strains of Escherichia coli ATCC 25922 and Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 7133623, and antibacterial activity test with strains of Acinetobacter baumannii 00332126. With 42mg / mL-1 protein concentration, molecular mass of 13656.4 Da and 31 amino acid residues in the N-terminal portion, the fraction showed high enzymatic activity, low hemolytic activity, considerable activity against Gram-positive lineage, and was efficient in reducing the biofilm matrix, but was not bactericidal in the tested line. Thus, a phospholipase fraction isolated from B.erythromelas venom appears as an alternative to studies aimed at the development of new antimicrobial drugs.