Haemorrhagic Factors from Snake Venoms. I. Properties of Haemorrhagic Factors and Antihaemorrhagic Factors

Abstract

Haemorrhagic factors were purified from many snake venoms belong to Crotalid and Viperid snakes, and they were characterized. These results indicate that they are metalloproteinases, and divided into four groups by their molecular weights and domain compositions, such as small(15∼30 kDa), medium (30∼50 kDa), large (50∼80 kDa) and extra large (>80 kDa). And their enzymatic properties were differed from each other. Antihaemorrhagic factors were purified from the serum of venomous, non-venomous and warm-blooded animals, and characterized. In this review, we describe the properties of these haemorrhagic factors and antihaemorrhagic factors.