Lipidomic profiling of the Brazilian yellow scorpion venom: new insights into inflammatory responses following Tityus serrulatus envenomation

ABSTRACT

Due to the high prevalence and clinical relevance, scorpionism is a critical public health issue in several Brazilian regions. Tityus serrulatus, commonly known as the Brazilian yellow scorpion, is the most venomous genus found in Brazilian fauna and associated with severe clinical manifestations such as localized pain, hypertension, sweating, tachycardia and complex hyperinflammatory responses. In general, T. serrulatus venom contains a complex mixture of active compounds, including proteins, peptides, and amino acids. Although knowledge of the protein fractions of scorpion venom is available, venom lipid components are not yet comprehensively known. The aim of the present study was to determine and characterize the lipid constituents/profile of the T. serratus venom utilizing liquid chromatography coupled with high-resolution mass spectrometry. Lipid species (164 in total) belonging to 3 different lipid categories, glycerophospholipids, sphingolipids, and glycerolipids, were identified. A further search on MetaCore/MetaDrug platform, which is based upon a manually curated database of molecular interactions, molecular pathways, gene-disease associations, chemical metabolism, and toxicity information, exhibited several metabolic pathways for 24 of previously identified lipid species, including activation of nuclear factor kappa B and oxidative stress pathways. Further several bioactive compounds, such as plasmalogens, lyso-platelet-activating factors, and sphingomyelins, associated with systemic responses triggered by T. serrulatus envenomation were detected. Finally, lipidomic data presented provide advanced and valuable information to better comprehend the mechanisms underlying the complex pathophysiology induced by T. serrulatus envenomation.

KEYWORDS:

• Tityus serrulatus
• lipidomic
• glycerophospholipid
• sphingolipids
• glycerolipids
• LC-HRMS

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author (LHF) upon reasonable request.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/15287394.2023.2188896.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by São Paulo Research foundation (Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo-FAPESP, Grant/Award Numbers: #2014/07125-6, EMU #2015/00658-1, #2018/25704-4, #2018/24069-3, #2021/03633-0, #2022/07979-1) and by the National Council of Technological and Scientific Development (CNPq- Grant/Award Numbers: 302514/2015-5, 372886/2018-3, 303259/2020-5). Thanks for financial support and for granting research fellowships.