Preparation and detection of sea snake antisera raised in rabbits

Antivenoms are currently the most effective medication used in the treatment of snakebites. However, there were relatively few studies on preparation of antivenoms targeting sea snakes, especially common sea snakes in China. In this study, we sought to prepare and detect mono- and bispecific antisera raised in rabbits against venoms of two sea snakes, Hydrophis cyanocinctus and H. curtus. The results of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay showed that the rabbit antisera generally showed clearly detectable immunological cross-reactions after the third immunization and indicated that the strength of cross-reactions increased with an increase in the immunizing dose. Proteins within the H. cyanocinctus and H. curtus venoms showed similar profiles and were mainly concentrated in the low-molecular-weight region (8-25 kDa). Western blotting results revealed that the bands of these low-molecular weight proteins were dense and showed strong immunogenicity. Although we detected comparatively few bands of the high-molecular-weight proteins, these also showed strong immunogenicity. Our results indicate that both mono- and bispecific antisera both can neutralize H. cyanocinctus and H. curtus venoms, and in this regard, the monospecific H. curtus and bispecific antiserum were found to be superior to the H. cyanocinctus antiserum. Given the increasing frequency of snakebites worldwide, we believe that the findings of this study will have high practical applicability.