Experimental antivenoms from chickens and rabbits and their comparison with commercially available equine antivenom against the venoms of Daboia russelii and Echis carinatus snakes

Abstract

In the present work, chicken (IgY) and rabbit (IgG) antibodies were generated against the venoms of Daboia russelii and Echis carinatus snakes and efficacy was compared with commercial antivenom. Antivenom antibodies were purified and evaluated by ELISA, SDS-PAGE, Western Blot. All antivenoms neutralized a challenge dose of 3LD₅₀. Each ml of IgY, IgG and commercial antivenom neutralized 0.3, 0.34, and 0.6 mg of E. carinatus venom and 0.2, 0.22 and 0.57 mg D. russelii venom respectively. The present study suggests the generated antivenoms as effective in neutralizing the venoms injected, implying the scope of IgY antivenoms for further screening and evaluation.

Keywords:

• IgY
• IgG
• commercial antivenom
• ELISA
• western blot
• neutralization

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Department of Microbiology, PSG College of Arts and Science and Department of Molecular Pharmacology, PSG College of Pharmacy Coimbatore for providing all necessary facilities to carry out this research work. The authors would like to extend their sincere appreciation to the Deanship of Scientific Research at the King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia for funding this Research Group Project (No. RGP-289)

Ethical approval

All experiments involving the use of animals were ethically approved by the Institutional Animal Ethical Committee (IAEC) at PSG Institution of Medical Science and Research, Coimbatore with proposal approval No. 385/2018/IAEC and 402/2018/IAEC.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The present work was financially supported by the Deanship of Scientific Research at the King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia for funding this research group project (No. RGP-289).