Ontogenetic study of Bothrops alternatus snake venom

• Grant number: 25/21648-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Start date: March 01, 2026
• End date: August 31, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Physiology - Compared Physiology
• Principal Investigator: Anita Mitico Tanaka-Azevedo
• Grantee: Eduardo Oliveira Venancio de Lima
• Supervisor: Bryan Greig Fry
• Host Institution: Instituto Butantan. São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: University of Queensland, Brisbane (UQ), Australia
• Associated to the scholarship: 22/15660-5 - Ontogenetic study of the venom of Bothrops alternatus snakes and analysis of phospholipase A2 inhibitors as a complementary therapy to serum therapy in bothropic accidents, BP.DR

Abstract

Snakebites are considered neglected tropical diseases by the World Health Organization. The study of snake venoms is an important area of biomedical research, mainly due to its neurotoxic, hemorrhagic and proteolytic actions. The genus Bothrops is the main responsible for envenoming in Brazil and the venom of species of this genus is mainly characterized by presenting the following activities: proteolytic, coagulant and hemorrhagic. Snake venoms are subject to intraspecific variations related to several factors, including ontogeny and sex. Several studies of ontogenetic variation from genus Bothrops snake venom showed variation in coagulation effect, with the neonates having more procoagulant effects of adult's samples. Thus, intense studies have been carried out to elucidate these aspects in venoms of several snake species, but studies are lacking in relation to some species such as B. alternatus, which have, in general, large size and that have specialized diet in small mammals. From a clinical point of view, it is important to consider and characterize the variations in coagulant effects caused by ontogenetic variations, since the normalization of hemostatic parameters is an important point for hospital discharge in patients affected by snake bites. Thus, the present study aims to elucidate the roles of ontogeny and sex of B. alternatus snakes in the coagulation activities of the venom of these animals.