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Clinical observations show mainly neurotoxic symptoms, although other biological activities have also been experimentally observed, including cardiotoxicity, hemolysis, edema and myotoxicity.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results<\/jats:title><jats:p>In the present study we have investigated the action of venoms from seven species of snakes from the genus<jats:italic>Micrurus<\/jats:italic>on the complement system in<jats:italic>in vitro<\/jats:italic>studies. Several of the<jats:italic>Micrurus<\/jats:italic>species could consume the classical and\/or the lectin pathways, but not the alternative pathway, and C3a, C4a and C5a were generated in sera treated with the venoms as result of this complement activation.<jats:italic>Micrurus<\/jats:italic>venoms were also able to directly cleave the \u03b1 chain of the component C3, but not of the C4, which was inhibited by 1,10 Phenanthroline, suggesting the presence of a C3\u03b1 chain specific metalloprotease in<jats:italic>Micrurus<\/jats:italic>spp venoms. Furthermore, complement activation was in part associated with the cleavage of C1-Inhibitor by protease(s) present in the venoms, which disrupts complement activation control.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title><jats:p><jats:italic>Micrurus<\/jats:italic>venoms can activate the complement system, generating a significant amount of anaphylatoxins, which may assist due to their vasodilatory effects, to enhance the spreading of other venom components during the envenomation process.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1186\/1471-2172-13-4","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2012,1,17]],"date-time":"2012-01-17T07:34:04Z","timestamp":1326785644000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":37,"title":["Micrurus snake venoms activate human complement system and generate anaphylatoxins"],"prefix":"10.1186","volume":"13","author":[{"given":"Gabriela D","family":"Tanaka","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Giselle","family":"Pidde-Queiroz","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Maria de F\u00e1tima D","family":"Furtado","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Carmen","family":"van den Berg","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Denise V","family":"Tambourgi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2012,1,16]]},"reference":[{"key":"424_CR1","first-page":"221","volume":"40","author":"O Vital Brazil","year":"1976","unstructured":"Vital Brazil O, Fontana MD, Pellegrini Filho A: Physiopathologie et therapeutique de l'envenomation experimentale causee par le venin de Micrurus frontalis. 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