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X Demographics
Mendeley readers
Attention Score in Context
| Title |
Evaluation of the physiological activity of venom from the Eurasian water shrew Neomys fodiens
|
|---|---|
| Published in |
Frontiers in Zoology, September 2017
|
| DOI | 10.1186/s12983-017-0230-0 |
| Pubmed ID | |
| Authors |
Krzysztof Kowalski, Paweł Marciniak, Grzegorz Rosiński, Leszek Rychlik |
| Abstract |
Animal toxins can have medical and therapeutic applications. Principally, toxins produced by insects, arachnids, snakes and frogs have been characterized. Venomous mammals are rare, and their venoms have not been comprehensively investigated. Among shrews, only the venom of Blarina brevicauda has been analysed so far, and blarina toxin has been proven to be its main toxic component. It is assumed that Neomys fodiens employs its venom to hunt larger prey. However, the toxic profile, properties and mode of action of its venom are largely unknown. Therefore, we analysed the cardio-, myo- and neurotropic properties of N. fodiens venom and saliva of non-venomous Sorex araneus (control tests) in vitro in physiological bioassays carried out on two model organisms: beetles and frogs. For the first time, we fractionated N. fodiens venom and S. araneus saliva by performing chromatographic separation. Next, the properties of selected compounds were analysed in cardiotropic bioassays in the Tenebrio molitor heart. The venom of N. fodiens caused a high decrease in the conduction velocity of the frog sciatic nerve, as well as a significant decrease in the force of frog calf muscle contraction. We also recorded a significant decrease in the frog heart contractile activity. Most of the selected compounds from N. fodiens venom displayed a positive chronotropic effect on the beetle heart. However, one fraction caused a strong decrease in the T. molitor heart contractile activity coupled with a reversible cardiac arrest. We did not observe any responses of the insect heart and frog organs to the saliva of S. araneus. Preliminary mass spectrometry analysis revealed that calmodulin-like protein, thymosin β-10, hyaluronidase, lysozyme C and phospholipase A2 are present in the venom of N. fodiens, whereas thymosin β4, lysozyme C and β-defensin are present in S. araneus saliva. Our results showed that N. fodiens venom has stronger paralytic properties and lower cardioinhibitory activity. Therefore, it is highly probable that N. fodiens might use its venom as a prey immobilizing agent. We also confirmed that S. araneus is not a venomous mammal because its saliva did not exhibit any toxic effects. |
X Demographics
The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 6 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | 2 | 33% |
| Unknown | 4 | 67% |
Demographic breakdown
| Type | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Members of the public | 4 | 67% |
| Science communicators (journalists, bloggers, editors) | 1 | 17% |
| Scientists | 1 | 17% |
Mendeley readers
The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 28 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Unknown | 28 | 100% |
Demographic breakdown
| Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Student > Ph. D. Student | 7 | 25% |
| Student > Bachelor | 3 | 11% |
| Other | 2 | 7% |
| Student > Doctoral Student | 2 | 7% |
| Researcher | 2 | 7% |
| Other | 6 | 21% |
| Unknown | 6 | 21% |
| Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 8 | 29% |
| Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology | 6 | 21% |
| Earth and Planetary Sciences | 2 | 7% |
| Environmental Science | 1 | 4% |
| Unspecified | 1 | 4% |
| Other | 2 | 7% |
| Unknown | 8 | 29% |
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 6. 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 15 March 2023.
All research outputs
#4,895,131
of 23,539,593 outputs
Outputs from Frontiers in Zoology
#261
of 662 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#84,754
of 322,776 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Frontiers in Zoology
#4
of 9 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 23,539,593 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done well and is in the 76th percentile: it's in the top 25% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 662 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 21.0. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 60% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 322,776 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 73% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 9 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has scored higher than 5 of them.