Polyspecific bothropic/crotalic and bothropic/lachesic
antivenoms were produced in Bolivia by immunizing two donkeys with the
venoms of Bothrops mattogrossensis and Crotalus durissus terrificus and one llama with the
venoms of B. mattogrossensis and Lachesis muta. These
antivenoms are currently being used for
snakebite envenomation in Bolivia. The rationale for using these animals is that donkeys and llamas are better adapted than horses to the high altitudes in South America and constitute good alternatives for
antivenom production in these regions. Plasma was fractionated by
caprylic acid precipitation of non-
immunoglobulin plasma proteins, to obtain whole
IgG preparations. Donkey-derived
antivenom showed one band of 150 kDa when analyzed by SDS-PAGE, whereas llama
antivenom presented two
immunoglobulin bands, of 170 kDa and 120 kDa, the latter corresponding to the heavy-chain
antibodies present in camelid sera. The effectiveness of these
antivenoms to neutralize lethal, hemorrhagic, myotoxic,
edema-forming, and defibrinogenating activities of the
venom of B. mattogrossensis from Bolivia, a species formerly known as Bothrops neuwiedii, was assessed at the experimental level. Although llama
antivenom has a total
protein concentration four times lower than donkey
antivenom, both preparations have similar neutralizing capacity against all toxic activities assessed. Llama and donkey
IgG-based
antivenoms are effective in the neutralization of B. mattogrossensis
venom and represent valuable alternatives for
antivenom manufacture in highland regions of South America.