The present study compared two methods used successfully in a large-scale program for the collection of scorpion venoms, namely the milking of adult scorpions via manual and electrical stimulation.

Scorpion stings and snake bites are major health hazards that lead to suffering of victims and high mortality. Thousands of injuries associated with such stings and bites of venomous animals occur every year worldwide. In North Africa, more than 100,000 scorpion stings and snake bites are reported annually. An appropriate determination of the 50% lethal doses (LD₅₀) of scorpion and snake venoms appears to be an important step to assess (and compare) venom toxic activity. Such LD₅₀ values are also commonly used to evaluate the neutralizing capacity of specific anti-venom batches. In the present work, we determined experimentally the LD₅₀ values of reference scorpion and snake venoms in Swiss mice, and evaluated the influence of two main venom injection routes (i.e., intraperitoneal (IP) versus intravenous (IV)). The analysis of experimental LD₅₀ values obtained with three collected scorpion venoms indicates that Androctonus mauretanicus (Am) is intrinsically more toxic than Androctonus australis hector (Aah) species, whereas the latter is more toxic than Buthus occitanus (Bo). Similar analysis of three representative snake venoms of the Viperidae family shows that Cerastes cerastes (Cc) is more toxic than either Bitis arietans (Ba) or Macrovipera lebetina (Ml) species. Interestingly, the venom of Elapidae cobra snake Naja haje (Nh) is far more toxic than viper venoms Cc, Ml and Ba, in agreement with the known severity of cobra-related envenomation. Also, our data showed that viper venoms are about three-times less toxic when injected IP as compared to IV, distinct from cobra venom Nh which exhibited a similar toxicity when injected IP or IV. Overall, this study clearly highlights the usefulness of procedure standardization, especially regarding the administration route, for evaluating the relative toxicity of individual animal venoms. It also evidenced a marked difference in lethal activity between venoms of cobra and vipers, which, apart from the nature of toxins, might be attributed to the rich composition of high molecular weight enzymes in the case of viper venoms.

The goal of the study is to investigate the association between the APOA5 polymorphisms and haplotypes with Arterial Hypertension (AHT) in Moroccan patients. The study was performed in 283 subjects, 149 patients with AHT and 134 controls. All subjects were genotyped for the APOA5 -1131 T > C (rs662799), 56C > G (rs3135506) and c.553G > T (rs2075291) polymorphisms. There was a strong association between -1131 T > C and 56C > G polymorphisms with AHT. The -1131 T > C and 56C > G polymorphisms were significantly associated with increased systolic blood pressure (SBP) and triglycerides (TG) levels. There were 4 haplotypes with a frequency higher than 5%, constructed from APOA5 polymorphisms, with the following order: -1131 T > C, 56C > G and c.553G > T. Haplotype H1 (TCG) was associated with decreased risk of AHT, whereas the haplotypes H2 (CCG) and H4 (CGG) were significantly associated with an increased risk of AHT. Carriers of H1 haplotype had a lower SBP and DBP and TG. In contrast, significant elevated SBP, DBP and TG were found in H4 haplotypes carriers. Our data demonstrate for the first time that several common SNPs in the APOA5 gene and their haplotypes are closely associated with modifications of blood pressure and serum lipid parameters in the AHT patient.

Ophidian envenomation accidents constitute a serious public health problem in many countries around the globe. Over 5 million such accident cases occur each year causing more than 100,000 deaths. In Africa, more than 20,000 deaths per year are registered while 400,000 envenomation victims retain severe and permanent functional sequelae. In Morocco, snakebites are frequent and of greater severity in children. They occur mostly in rural areas. The incidence of these bites remains poorly understood and vastly underestimated. The epidemiological data are not well known due to the absence of a national registry, whereas a significant proportion of envenomations receive only traditional treatment methods in non-medical intensive care. This prompted us to investigate the enzymatic and biological properties of venom biochemical constituents from two of the most dangerous snake venoms in Morocco: Cerastes cerastes (Cc) and Macrovipera mauritanica (Mm). Also, we studied the immune cross-reactivity of Cc and Mm venoms in comparison to that of another important dangerous Moroccan viper, Bitis arietans (Ba), to identify the best candidates (venom or a mixture of venoms) for producing the most efficient and protective antivenom. In the present study, we report a preliminary venom characterization of Cc and Mm and the cross-reactivity that may exist between their venoms and Ba. These venoms are known to be highly toxic and contain several proteins that differ by molecular weights. Interestingly, both Cc and Mm venoms are characterized by intense hemorrhagic and phospholipase A2 activities and their ability to degrade the α and γ chains of fibrinogen. They display very low proteolysis through the casein test. After injection into mice, Cc and Mm induce myonecrosis in skeletal muscles, which most likely reflects direct action of myotoxins and indirect action of hemorrhagic molecules present in these venoms. In mice, this myonecrosis diminishes serum creatine phosphokinase (CPK) levels. As expected, Cc venom is immunogenic and induces highly protective antivenom against Mm and Ba venom antigens. This protective capacity is similar to that of the antivenom produced against the Mm venom.