Evaluation of pro-inflammatory events induced by Bothrops alternatus snake venom

Inflammation is a major local feature of envenomation by bothropic snakes being characterized by a prominent local edema, pain, and extensive swelling. There are reports demonstrating that whole Bothrops snake venoms and toxins isolated from them are able to activate macrophages functions, such as phagocytosis, production of reactive oxygen, cytokines and eicosanoids, however, little is known about the effects of Bothrops alternatus (B.alpha.) venom on macrophages. In this work, we evaluated the proinflammatory effects of B.alpha. venom with in vivo and in vitro experiments using the Raw 264.7 cell line and mouse peritoneal macrophages. We detected that B.alpha. venom augments cell permeability (2-fold), and cellular extravasation (mainly neutrophils), increase proinflammatory cytokines IL1 (similar to 300-fold), IL12 (similar to 200-fold), and TNF alpha (similar to 80-fold) liberation and induce the expression of enzymes related to lipid signaling, such as cPLA(2 alpha) and COX-2. Additionally, using lipidomic techniques we detected that this venom produces a release of arachidonic acid (similar to 10 nMol/mg. Protein) and other fatty acids (16:0 and 18:1 n-9c). Although much of these findings were described in inflammatory processes induced by other bothropic venoms, here we demonstrate that B.alpha. venom also stimulates pro-inflammatory pathways involving lipid mediators of cell signaling. In this sense, lipidomics analysis of macrophages stimulated with B.alpha. venom evidenced that the main free fatty acids are implicated in the inflammatory response, and also demonstrated that this venom, is able to activate lipid metabolism even with a low content of PLA(2).