Hadruroides lunatus is the most abundant scorpion species in the Peruvian central coast, where most of the accidents involving humans are registered. In spite of its prevalence, there are only very few studies on H. lunatus envenomation. The aim of the present study was to analyze the cardiorespiratory alterations caused by H. lunatus envenomation in rodents.
Wistar rats injected with H. lunatus scorpion venom were submitted to electrocardiography. After euthanasia, rat lungs were collected and histopathologically analyzed. Mouse cardiomyocytes were used to perform immunofluorescence and calcium transient assays. Data were analyzed by ANOVA or Student's t-test. The significance level was set at p < 0.05.
It was observed that H. lunatus venom increased heart rate and caused arrhythmia, thereby impairing the heart functioning. Lungs of envenomed animals showed significant alterations, such as diffuse hemorrhage. In addition, immunofluorescence showed that H. lunatus venom was capable of binding to cardiomyocytes. Furthermore, mouse ventricular cardiomyocytes incubated with H. lunatus venom showed a significant decrease in calcium transient, confirming that H. lunatus venom exerts a toxic effect on heart.
Our results showed that H. lunatus venom is capable of inducing cardiorespiratory alterations, a typical systemic effect of scorpionism, stressing the importance of medical monitoring in envenomation cases.
Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutical Science
3
8%
Environmental Science
2
5%
Medicine and Dentistry
2
5%
Other
4
10%
Unknown
12
30%
Attention Score in Context
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 2. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 20 July 2016.
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#17,848,589
of 27,777,630 outputs
Outputs from Journal of Venomous Animals and Toxins including Tropical Diseases
#290
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Outputs of similar age
#179,144
of 316,054 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Journal of Venomous Animals and Toxins including Tropical Diseases
#6
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Altmetric has tracked 27,777,630 research outputs across all sources so far. This one is in the 33rd percentile – i.e., 33% of other outputs scored the same or lower than it.
So far Altmetric has tracked 553 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a little more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 6.9. This one is in the 44th percentile – i.e., 44% of its peers scored the same or lower than it.
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