obliqua venom. Nevertheless, biochemical markers of acute liver injury (AST, ALT and γ-GT) were increased in the serum of animals after envenomation. As it is known that some of these enzymes are not specific to the liver, it is possible that they were derived from other sources, such as the red blood cells or skeletal muscle. For instance, increases in AST activity are also associated with damage

to cardiac and skeletal muscle and the kidneys ( Prado et al., 2010 and Shashidharamurthy et al., 2010). Despite these apparently conflicting observations, we cannot rule out the occurrence of liver injury, mainly because evidence of DNA damage was detected in liver cells using the comet assay. Probably, these findings indicate that the extent of acute hepatic injury in this model of envenomation was subtle and did not lead to gross histological alterations. As mentioned above, L. obliqua envenomation may have triggered an intense inflammatory response, selleck screening library which may be involved in several of the clinical manifestations. The activation of the kallikrein-kinin system and the consequent release of vasoactive mediators (mainly bradykinin, histamine and prostaglandins) seems to play an essential role in the edematogenic, nociceptive and vascular effects ( Bohrer et al., 2007). Accordingly, we have shown that during envenomation the animals experienced neutrophilic leukocytosis, indicating that a systemic inflammatory response had occurred. Histological

sections also provided evidence of inflammatory cell infiltrates

in the heart, lungs and kidneys. Corroborating these results, a clear activation in the vascular bed that Pexidartinib chemical structure was characterized by an increase in leukocyte rolling and adhesion to the endothelium was observed in hamster cheek pouch venules that had previously been incubated with low doses of LOBE ( Nascimento-Silva et al., 2012). The up-regulated expression of genes from pro-inflammatory mediators and adhesion molecules, such as IL-8, IL-6, CCL2, CXCL1, E-selectin, VCAM-1 and ICAM-3, was also detected in endothelial cells and fibroblasts after incubation with LOBE. Once released, these mediators acted as chemoattractants, inducing inflammatory cell migration to the sites of injury Janus kinase (JAK) ( Pinto et al., 2008 and Nascimento-Silva et al., 2012). Recently, classical methods of genetic toxicology have been applied to the identification of potential therapeutic agents in animal venoms (mainly for the treatment of some types of cancer) and have also provided a better understanding of the toxic mechanisms of action of these venoms in the human body (Marcussi et al., 2011 and Marcussi et al., 2013). During envenomation, genotoxic damage can occur directly due to the cytotoxic activity of the venom or indirectly through the production of cytotoxic mediators (such as free radicals, for example) in response to tissue injury. In both cases, the damage could lead to DNA fragmentation and eventually, cell death.