Sasan Zaeri - Department of Pharmacology, Bushehr University of Medical Sciences, Bushehr, Iran
Zohre Aghaei - Department of Physiology, School of Medicine, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
Navid Reza Mashayekhi - Department of Internal Medicine, Cardiology Division, Arak University of Medical Sciences, Arak, Iran
Ali Salemi - Department of Human Vaccine and Serum, Razi Vaccine and Serum Research Institute, Agricultural Research, Education and Extension Organization, Karaj, Iran
Ramin Seyedian - Department of Pharmacology, Bushehr University of Medical Sciences, Bushehr, Iran

Objective: Snake envenomation is common in tropical and subtropical countries of the Middle East areas including Iran. Cerastes cerastes gasperettii is a dangerous snake living in southwestern provinces of Iran. It causes massive edema at the bite site and coagulopathy leading to death if untreated. Methods: The purpose of this preliminary animal study was to evaluate the toxicity and proteomic of this venom for the first time in Iran. Moreover, the hemodynamic changes with intravenous injection of the venom were assessed and inotropic in addition to arrhythmogenic properties of this venom were investigated. Results: The estimated amount of the LD۵۰ with intraperitoneal injection was slightly less than the similar experiment in Saudi Arabia (۱.۳۲ mg/kg versus ۹۷۸ µg/kg body weight). There were ۸ distinct protein bands between ۱۲ and ۶۶ kDa in SDS-PAGE analysis that were different with Moroccan experiment due to inter and intra species variation. Inotropic potencies were not significant since the lethal dose with intravenous injection was much lower than the Arabian experiment in guinea pigs (۲.۴ mg/kg versus ۰.۸ mg/kg). Conclusion: According to the low hemodynamic changes induced with the venom, it seems that coagulopathy and edema are the most dangerous effects of this rare snake in Iran.

Snake, Hemodynamic, Proteomic, Cerastes gasperettii