Development of Hematotoxic Snake Venom Detection using Species Specific Designed Antibody

Abstract

Snakebite is still an important public health problem in Thailand. The current scheme of management for snakebite includes attempting to identify snake species and selecting the corresponding antivenom for therapy. In this study, an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was developed to detect hematotoxic snake (Green pit viper, Malayan pit viper and Russell’s viper) venoms by using species specific immunoglobulins isolated from hyperimmune horse plasma. By affinity chromatography, the percent  concentration of immunoglobulins specific to Green pit viper, Malayan pit viper and Russell’s viper hematotoxic venoms were 4.62, 5.97 and 3.43, respectively. This established technique could differentiate among the three Thai hematotoxic snake venoms in serum samples with the detection limit of 12.5 ng/mL. However, the assay is not sensitive enough to detect venom concentration in snakebite patients with lower concentration of venom. Moreover, cross reactivity was observed among the three hematotoxic snake venoms.