{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,1]],"date-time":"2026-09-01T06:52:21Z","timestamp":1788245541425,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":37,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"5","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2020,5,15]],"date-time":"2020-05-15T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1589500800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100012555","name":"Russian Foundation for Fundamental Investigations","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["18-54-54006"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["18-54-54006"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100012555","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Toxins"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Snake venoms possess lethal activities against different organisms, ranging from bacteria to higher vertebrates. Several venoms were shown to be active against protozoa, however, data about the anti-protozoan activity of cobra and viper venoms are very scarce. We tested the effects of venoms from several snake species on the ciliate Tetrahymena pyriformis. The venoms tested induced T. pyriformis immobilization, followed by death, the most pronounced effect being observed for cobra Naja sumatrana venom. The active polypeptides were isolated from this venom by a combination of gel-filtration, ion exchange and reversed-phase HPLC and analyzed by mass spectrometry. It was found that these were cytotoxins of the three-finger toxin family. The cytotoxins from several cobra species were tested and manifested toxicity for infusorians. Light microscopy revealed that, because of the cytotoxin action, the infusorians\u2019 morphology was changed greatly, from teardrop-like to an almost spherical shape, this alteration being accompanied by a leakage of cell contents. Fluorescence microscopy showed that the fluorescently labelled cytotoxin 2 from cobra N. oxiana was localized mainly at the membrane of killed infusorians, indicating that cytotoxins may kill T. pyriformis by causing membrane rupture. This work is the first evidence of the antiprotozoal activity of cobra venom cytotoxins, as demonstrated by the example of the ciliate T. pyriformis.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/toxins12050325","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,5,18]],"date-time":"2020-05-18T11:34:14Z","timestamp":1589801654000},"page":"325","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":9,"title":["Screening Snake Venoms for Toxicity to Tetrahymena Pyriformis Revealed Anti-Protozoan Activity of Cobra Cytotoxins"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"12","author":[{"given":"Olga","family":"Kuleshina","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Gabrichevsky Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, ul. Admirala Makarova 10, Moscow 125212, Russia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Elena","family":"Kruykova","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Shemyakin-Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, ul. Miklukho-Maklaya 16\/10, Moscow 117997, Russia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Elena","family":"Cheremnykh","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Mental Health Research Centre, Kashirskoye shosse, 34, Moscow 115522, Russia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Leonid","family":"Kozlov","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Gabrichevsky Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, ul. Admirala Makarova 10, Moscow 125212, Russia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Tatyana","family":"Andreeva","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Shemyakin-Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, ul. Miklukho-Maklaya 16\/10, Moscow 117997, Russia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Vladislav","family":"Starkov","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Shemyakin-Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, ul. Miklukho-Maklaya 16\/10, Moscow 117997, Russia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Alexey","family":"Osipov","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Shemyakin-Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, ul. Miklukho-Maklaya 16\/10, Moscow 117997, Russia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Rustam","family":"Ziganshin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Shemyakin-Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, ul. Miklukho-Maklaya 16\/10, Moscow 117997, Russia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7980-6191","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Victor","family":"Tsetlin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Shemyakin-Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, ul. Miklukho-Maklaya 16\/10, Moscow 117997, Russia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4609-970X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yuri","family":"Utkin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Shemyakin-Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, ul. Miklukho-Maklaya 16\/10, Moscow 117997, Russia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,5,15]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"995","DOI":"10.1016\/j.toxicon.2007.01.010","article-title":"Toxicity of venoms from vipers of Pelias group to crickets Gryllus assimilis and its relation to snake entomophagy","volume":"49","author":"Starkov","year":"2007","journal-title":"Toxicon"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"110","DOI":"10.1016\/j.toxicon.2011.10.015","article-title":"Venom lethality and diet: Differential responses of natural prey and model organisms to the venom of the saw-scaled vipers (Echis)","volume":"59","author":"Richards","year":"2012","journal-title":"Toxicon"},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"119","DOI":"10.1016\/j.toxicon.2017.08.016","article-title":"Venom phenotypes of the rock rattlesnake (Crotalus lepidus) and the ridge-nosed rattlesnake (Crotalus willardi) from M\u00e9xico and the United States","volume":"138","author":"Saviola","year":"2017","journal-title":"Toxicon"},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Perumal Samy, R., Pachiappan, A., Gopalakrishnakone, P., Thwin, M.M., Hian, Y.E., Chow, V.T., Bow, H., and Weng, J.T. 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