Different clotting mechanisms of Bothrops jararaca snake venom on human and rabbit plasmas

Bothrops jararaca venom is approximately 3.5 times more effective at coagulating rabbit plasma than human plasma. To investigate this difference B. jararaca venom was treated with several enzymatic inhibitors and the minimum coagulant dose was determined both on plasma anticoagulated with sodium citrate or a mixture of sodium citrate and heparin, and on fibrinogen (both human and rabbit). On human plasma, the thrombin-like component of the venom accounted for c. 60% of the coagulant activity, such activity was negligible on rabbit plasma. The venom had little clotting activity on rabbit fibrinogen. The factor II- and X-activator components could be inhibited by EDTA, EGTA and 2-mercaptoethanol, whereas the thrombin-like activity was inhibited by PMSF. These differences show that (using human plasma) B. jararaca clotting activity is mainly due to the thrombin-like component, whereas the factor II- and X-activator components are more important on rabbit plasma. The delayed action of the thrombin-like enzyme on rabbit fibrinogen may be attributed to the difference between rabbit and human fibrinopeptide A. Thus, the increased coagulant activity on rabbit plasma may be due to a faster rate of activation of factor X, V or II by snake venom enzymes.