ABSTRACT
The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of the venoms from wolf spider hogna carolinensis and the Jumping spider Plildippus octopunctatus on the morphology and viability of cultured 1-2 days old rat embryonic cardiac cells. After treatment with spiders venom, marked morphological changes In cardiac cells were observed, illustrated by rounding-up of the cells, reduction in cell size, loss of cellular projections and clustering. This was followed by cell detachment from the substratum, as revealed by light microscopy. Cells proliferation were also susceptible to the toxic effect of both hogna carolinensis and hidippus octopunctatus, and it caused a significant time-and dose-dependent decrease In cell number when the cells were treated with 0.05, 5, 50 or 200ug/ml of the venom for five days