ABSTRACT
Snake venom toxins have been reportedly used as a rich source of a number of proteins of biotechnological interest due to their wide range of effects on haemostasis. These effects vary greatly: coagulant, anticoagulant, platelet-activating, anti-platelet, fibrinolytic and hemorrhagic, in either enzymatic or non-enzymatic pathways. Agkistrodon venom contains a variety of proteins that possess antiplatelet activities. This study presents recent development in our laboratory to produce and purify antiplatelet proteins derived from Agkistrodon blomhoffi ussuriensiss nake venom. Different matrices of HPLC (size exclusion, ion exchange and affinity chromatography) were employed for purifying the proteins and their biological and biochemical properties were characterized by SDSPAGE, 2-D electrophoresis, platelet aggregation assay and enzyme activity assay.A purified disintegrin was a single chain glycoprotein with Mr of 13 kDа and рІ 4.7, whereas PLA2 had Mr of 14 kDa and pI of 4.17. A dose-dependent activity curve analysis shows that the platelet aggregation inhibitory activity of disintegrin and PLA2 in the rabbit plateletrich plasma were ID50 of 0.25 μМ and 0.65 μМ, respectively. Bioprocesses to produce and purify active antiplatelet agents from A. blomhoffi ussuriensis venom have been developed, using modern liquid chromatography matrices. Ongoing work to optimize large-scale production process is being undertaken.