ABSTRACT
Snakebite treatment is one of the major difficulties in medicine due to its dangerous side effects. Bezoar, a stone found in the stomach of wild goat, is widely reputed against various diseases, including snakebite, in traditional medicine among the tribes in southeast of Iran. But its efficacy against snakebite poisoning has not been determined, yet. This study was performed to evaluate the Bezoar effect on the clinical signs, mean survival duration and the autopsy findings [pathologic signs] of experimental mice receiving various doses of crude Echis carinatus snake venom. This experimental study was performed on 48, 4 week old mice. The natural crude snake venom was serially diluted and 10% and 2% concentrations of the venom were used. Various experimental doses of Bezoar [6, 50, 100 and 200 mg/kg/i.p] were injected, 20 min before 2% snake venom intra peritoneal administration. The clinical signs, mean survival duration and autopsy findings were recorded and compared with control mice which received saline, 20 min before snake venom administration. In case of using 10% concentration snake venom, mice received only 100 mag/ i.p of Bezoar, 20 min before snake venom administration. The results of this study showed that Echis carinatus snake venom caused pain, progressive edema and death in mice. The Bezoar [50 and 100 mg/kg] increased the survival duration of mice receiving 2% dilution of Echis carinatus snake venom significantly as compared to controls [p<0.01]. The dose of 100 mg/kg of Bezoar increased the survival duration from 213.8 +/- 2.7 to 705 +/- 4.3 min in comparison to control group [p<0.01]. Also the Bezoar significantly antagonized the pathologic signs induced by Echis carinatus snake venom in mice. Pretreatment of mice with Bezoar increased the survival duration of mice and decreased the pathologic signs [such as bleeding in the retroperitoneal space, thoracic cavityand CNS and lung vascular congestion] induced by Echis carinatus snake venom in mice. The exact mechanisms must be elucidated in other investigations