RÉSUMÉ
Scorpions are included in the order Scorpiones; class Arachnida. Lethal scorpions are mostly of the Buthidae family. Among these, species belonging to Androctonus, Leiurus and Mesobuthus genera cause most scorpion envenomations in Turkey. This study was performed aiming the production of antivenom by using Androctonus crassicauda telsons. Venom toxicity is related to telson weight, size, and storing condition (open or closed). Telsons of A. crassicauda were collected in Southeastern Anatolia (especially in Harran town, Sanliurfa), Turkey. They were separated according to weight, size, and storing condition - open (a) and closed (b). Venom solution was prepared by maceration of telsons. Swiss albino mice were used to determine the lethal dose 50% (LD50), which was as follows: Group 1a - 2.31mg; Group 1b - 2.66mg; Group 2a - 2.32mg; Group 2b - 2.66mg; Group 3a - 6.66mg; Group 3b - 6.88mg. Among the groups of telsons, the first and the second groups showed different characteristics. However, there were no differences between their toxicity. In the third group, a fourfold amount of telsons was used for toxicity. In other words, telsons weighting from 19.99 to 20mg (first group) and from 29.99 to 30mg (second group) presented similar LD50 values, and telsons weighting from 10 to 19.99mg (third group) showed a fourfold higher LD50 value. This difference was caused by the maturity of scorpions and venom toxicity was related to their size. The first and second groups were considered to be mature and the third group, not adult. Therefore, we can conclude that obtaining open telsons due to environmental factors was not effective for venom toxicity.
RÉSUMÉ
The present study was carried out to produce highly efficient antivenom from a small number of telsons in a short time. Venom solution was prepared through maceration of telsons from Androctonus crassicauda (Olivier, 1807) collected in the Southeastern Anatolia Region, Turkey. Lethal dose 50% (LD50) of the venom solution injected into mice was 1 ml/kg (95% confidence interval; 0.8-1.3), according to probit analysis. Different adjuvants (Freund's Complete Adjuvant, Freund's Incomplete Adjuvant, and 0.4% aluminium phosphate), at increasing doses and combined with venom, were subcutaneously injected into horses on days 0, 14, 21, 28, 35, and 42 of the experiment. Antivenom was collected from the immunized horses on days 45, 48, and 51 using the pepsin digestive method. The antivenom effective dose 50% (ED50) in mice was 0.5 ml (95% confidence interval; 0.40-0.58), according to probit analysis. It was concluded that 0.5 ml antivenom neutralized a venom dose 35-fold higher than the venom LD50. Thus, highly potent antivenom could be produced from about 238 telsons in 51 days.