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BIBTEX RIS

Ultrastructural alterations of mouse diaphragm nerve endings induced by purified scorpion venom, tityustoxin

1974; Elsevier BV; Volume: 12; Issue: 5 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/0041-0101(74)90041-5

1879-3150

G. M. Böhm, Sueli Pompolo, Carlos R. Diniz, Marcus V. Gomez, Aurea F. Pimenta, Joaquim Coutinho Netto,

Venomous Animal Envenomation and Studies

Five mice were injected intraperitoneally with 4–16 μg of tityustoxin. The ultrastructure of their diaphragm nerve endings were studied using as controls three normal mice. Pathological alterations found in all treated animals consisted of: (1) rarefaction of the fibrillar structure, shrinkage and/or gross vacuolization in the cytoplasm of axons of less than 5 μm diameter; (2) mitochondrial edema, irregular distribution and 18–26 per cent diminution of the synaptic vesicles in the motor end-plates. These lesions resemble those induced by batrachotoxin, black widow spider venom and beta-bungarotoxin. The results seem to support the vesicle hypothesis and suggest that tityustoxin effects directly the nerve terminals.