Lethal and haemorrhagic activity of Russell's Viper venom--neutralization by polyvalent, monovalent and toxoid antiserum.

Lethal and haemorrhagic activity of Russell's Viper venom was compared against polyvalent bivalent commercial antiserum and monovalent antiserum raised in rabbit. Formaldehyde-detoxified venom offered 7-fold protection against lethal activity and 12.5-fold against haemorrhagic activity of the venom. Whole venom and formaldehyde-detoxified venom along with Freund's complete adjuvant, injected in rabbits produced high titre antiserum. Amongst all the six antiserum tested, the monovalent antiserum raised in rabbit, showed maximum precipitating bands in immunogeldiffusion and immunoelectrophoresis. The toxoid-antiserum offered maximum protection against the venom-induced lethality and the monovalent antiserum offered maximum protection against haemorrhagic activity.

Glycaemic effects of tentacle extract of the jellyfish Acromitus rabanchatu (Annandale).

Tentacle extract of the common jellyfish A. rabanchatu, caused glycaemic alteration in fasting rabbits. Intravenous administration of the extract produced a significant rise followed by a significant fall in blood sugar level. Glucose tolerance in rabbits was also significantly increased. Extract-mediated hypoglycaemic response was fully abolished in alloxan diabetic rabbits. Preliminary separation on Sephadex G 50 indicated the hypoglycaemic factor to be a non-lethal protein of molecular weight less than 20 kDa. Heat treatment of extract and G 50 separated fraction P2 demonstrated total loss of hypoglycaemic activity.