CHARACTERIZATION OF INDIAN COMMON KRAIT (BUNGARUS CAERULEUS) VENOM

Snakes are the limbless vertebrates and belong to the class of living creatures known as reptiles which include all the living orders of crocodiles, turtles, tortoises and lizards.Snakes like heat, it means life and vitality to them, and therefore the snakes are most abundant in the tropical and subtropical regions of the globe, in forests and places with thick vegetation.About 2000 different types of snakes exist and nearly 400 are known to be venomous. Nearly 20,000 people die every year from snake bite in India (Ahuja & Singh, 1954).Many workers have worked on the venom of Naja, Russel’s viper, Agkistrodon, Crotalus and Echis from time to time. But the venom of Indian common krait (Bungaruscaeruleus) has not been studied by many workers.An attempt has been made in the present study to observe the toxicity of this venom through different routes of inoculation. The hemolytic activity of Indian common krait venom has also been observed using red blood cells from different species of animals in order to characterize this venom.The order of lethal toxicity of krait venom has been found as shown: Intracerebral toxicity > intravenous toxicity > intraperitoneal toxicity > intramuscular toxicity > subcutaneous toxicity. The common krait venom is indirectly hemolytic and it doesn’t contain the direct lyric factor like the venom of Najanaja.The indirect lytic factor or PLA present in the Indian common krait venom is active only in presence of phospholipids (lecithin) present in normal horse serum.