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Hemorrhage induced by snake venom metalloproteinases (SVMPs) is a complex phenomenon resulting in capillary disruption and blood extravasation. The mechanism of action of SVMPs has been investigated using various methodologies however the precise molecular events associated with microvessel disruption remains not fully understood. To gain insight into the hemorrhagic process, we analyzed the global effects of HF3, an extremely hemorrhagic SVMP from Bothrops jararaca, in the mouse skin and plasma. We report that in the HF3-treated skin there was evidence of degradation of extracellular matrix (collagens and proteoglycans), cytosolic, cytoskeleton, and plasma proteins. Furthermore, the data suggest that direct and indirect effects promoted by HF3 contributed to tissue injury as the activation of collagenases was detected in the HF3-treated skin. In the plasma analysis after depletion of the 20 most abundant proteins, fibronectin appeared as degraded by HF3. In contrast, some plasma proteinase inhibitors showed higher abundance compared to control skin and plasma. This is the first study to assess the complex in vivo effects of HF3 using high-throughput proteomic approaches, and the results underscore a scenario characterized by the interplay between the hydrolysis of intracellular, extracellular, and plasma proteins and the increase of plasma inhibitors in the hemorrhagic process.

The pharmacological activities displayed by Bothrops jararaca venom undergo a significant ontogenetic shift. Similarly, the diet of this species changes from ectothermic prey in early life to endothermic prey in adulthood. In this study we used large and representative newborn and adult venom samples consisting of pools from 694 and 110 specimens, respectively, and demonstrate a significant ontogenetic shift in the venom proteome complexity of B. jararaca. 2-DE coupled to MS protein identification showed a clear rearrangement of the toxin arsenal both in terms of the total proteome, as of the glycoproteome. N-glycosylation seems to play a key role in venom protein variability between newborn and adult specimens. Upon the snake development, the subproteome of metalloproteinases undergoes a shift from a P-III-rich to a P-I-rich profile while the serine proteinase profile does not vary significantly. We also used isobaric tag labeling (iTRAQ) of venom tryptic peptides for the first time to examine the quantitative changes in the venom toxins of B. jararaca upon neonate to adult transition. The iTRAQ analysis showed changes in various toxin classes, especially the proteinases. Our study expands the in-depth understanding of venom complexity variation particularly with regard to toxin families that have been associated with envenomation pathogenesis., (Copyright © 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

Haemorrhage induced by snake venom metalloproteinases (SVMPs) is a complex phenomenon resulting in capillary disruption and extravasation. This study analysed structural elements important for the interaction of four Bothrops jararaca SVMPs of different domain organisation and glycosylation levels with plasma and extracellular matrix proteins: HF3 (P-III class) is highly glycosylated and ~80 times more haemorrhagic than bothropasin (P-III class), which has a minor carbohydrate moiety; BJ-PI (P-I class) is not haemorrhagic and the DC protein is composed of disintegrin-like/cysteine-rich domains of bothropasin. HF3, bothropasin and BJ-PI showed different degradation profiles of fibrinogen, fibronectin, vitronectin, von Willebrand factor, collagens IV and VI, laminin and Matrigel; however, only bothropasin degraded collagen I. In solid-phase binding assays HF3 and bothropasin interacted with fibrinogen, fibronectin, laminin, collagens I and VI; the DC protein bound only to collagens I and VI; however, no binding of BJ-PI to these proteins was detected. N-deglycosylation caused loss of structural stability of bothropasin and BJ-PI but HF3 remained intact, although its haemorrhagic and fibrinogenolytic activities were partially impaired. Nevertheless, N-deglycosylated HF3 bound with higher affinity to collagens I and VI, although its proteolytic activity upon these collagens was not enhanced. This study demonstrates that features of carbohydrate moieties of haemorrhagic SVMPs may play a role in their interaction with substrates of the extracellular matrix, and the ability of SVMPs to degrade proteins in vitro does not correlate to their ability to cause haemorrhage, suggesting that novel, systemic approaches are necessary for understanding the mechanism of haemorrhage generation by SVMPs.

Enzymes of the pyrophosphatase/phosphodiesterase family have multiple roles in extracellular nucleotide metabolism and in the regulation of nucleotide-based intercellular signaling. Snake venoms contain enzymes that hydrolyze nucleic acids and nucleotides, but their function is poorly understood. Here we describe for the first time the isolation and functional characterization of a soluble phosphodiesterase from Bothrops jararaca venom, which shows amino acid sequence similarity to mammalian nucleotide pyrophosphatase/phosphodiesterase 3 (NPP3), and inhibits ADP-induced platelet aggregation. The enzyme, named NPP-BJ, showed an apparent molecular mass of 228 kDa by size exclusion chromatography. NPP-BJ exhibited nuclease activity as well as pyrophosphatase and phosphatase activities, preferentially hydrolyzing nucleoside 5'-triphosphates over nucleoside 5'-diphosphates, but was not active upon nucleoside 5'-monophosphates. Depending on the substrate used, dithiothreitol and EDTA differently inhibited the catalytic activity of NPP-BJ. Platelet aggregation induced by ADP was also abrogated by NPP-BJ, whereas thrombin-induced platelet aggregation was only slightly attenuated. However, polyclonal antibodies raised against NPP-BJ could not abolish the lethal activity of B. jararaca venom. Altogether, these results show that NPP-BJ has a minor contribution to the lethal activity of this venom, but interferes with mechanisms of ADP-induced platelet aggregation.

HF3 and bothropasin are P-III hemorrhagic snake venom metalloproteinases (SVMPs) of Bothrops jararaca. The DC protein is composed of the disintegrin-like/cysteine-rich domains derived from the autolysis of P-III SVMPs. Here we describe simplified procedures for the isolation of HF3, bothropasin, the DC protein, and BJ-PI, a novel P-I SVMP. The isolated proteins were identified by mass spectrometry. BJ-PI is a potent caseinolytic enzyme devoid of hemorrhagic activity. HF3, bothropasin and BJ-PI show distinct fibrinogenolytic activities.

Viperid snakes show the most complex snake-venom proteomes and offer an intriguing challenge in terms of understanding the nature of their components and the pathological outcomes of envenomation characterized by local and systemic effects. In this work, the venom complexity of eight Bothrops species was analyzed by 2-DE, and their subproteomes of proteinases were explored by 2-D immunostaining and 2-D gelatin zymography, demonstrating the diversity of their profiles. Heparin, a highly sulfated glycosaminoglycan released from mast cells, is involved in anti-coagulant and anti-inflammatory processes. Here, we explored the hypothesis that heparin released upon envenomation could interact with toxins and interfere with venom pathogenesis. We first identified the Bothrops venom subproteome of toxins that bind with high-affinity for heparin as composed of mainly serine proteinases and C-type lectins. Next, we explored the Bothrops jararaca toxins that bind to heparin under physiological conditions and identified a relationship between the subproteomes of proteinases, and that of heparin-binding toxins. Only the non-bound fraction, composed mainly of metalloproteinases, showed lethal and hemorrhagic activities, whereas the heparin-bound fraction contained mainly serine proteinases associated with coagulant and fibrinogenolytic activities. These data suggest that heparin binding to B. jararaca venom components in vivo has a minor protective effect to venom toxicity.

The functionality of the disintegrin-like/cysteine-rich domains of snake venom metalloproteinases (SVMPs) has been shown to reside in the cysteine-rich region, which can interact with VWA-containing proteins. Recently, the hyper-variable region (HVR) of the cysteine-rich domain was suggested to constitute a potential protein-protein adhesive interface. Here we show that recombinant proteins of HF3, a hemorrhagic P-III SVMP, containing the cysteine-rich domain (disintegrin-like/cysteine-rich and cysteine-rich proteins) but not the disintegrin-like protein were able to significantly increase leukocyte rolling in the microcirculation. Peptides from the HVR also promoted leukocyte rolling and this activity was inhibited by anti-alpha(M)/beta2 antibodies. These results show, for the first time, that the cysteine-rich domain and its HVR play a role in triggering pro-inflammatory effects mediated by integrins.