Aspectos del envenenamiento y potencial biotecnológico de las metaloproteasas de venenos de serpientes

Abstract

Snake bites are considered medical-social problems of great magnitude. In the world, five million people are bitten by snakes annually, and the World Health Organization classified snakebite venoming in category A of neglected tropical diseases. In Latin America, the largest number of venomings are caused by snakes of the Viperidae family, whose venomingis considered an emergency that must be attended to immediately, however, although bites can be fatal, snake venom is considered a biological resource. containing several active components with great therapeutic potential. Venom has been used in the treatment of a variety of pathologies in Ayurveda, homeopathy, and traditional medicine. With the adventof biotechnology, the efficacy of such treatments has been proven by obtaining and purifying the components of the venom and studying their therapeutic properties. Snake venoms are made up of a complex mixture of more than 20 polypeptides that include enzymes, toxins, and proteins. This review will focus on certain components of snake venom such as metalloproteinases and aspects of venoming, for which information was searched in digital databases such as: Google Scholar, ScienceDirect, PubMed, Scopus, SciELO, SpringerLink. The information was analyzed and summarized in didactic tables. This information will be free for any researcher who wants to carry out in-depth studies on the components of snakevenom and its biotechnological applications