Sep 28, 2004
you know, sometimes I feel silly.
I know HOW snake venom works- I've known that for a long time. but I never thought about what it was made up of. tonight I was reading the snake book my mom got me, and of course I finally read that it's made up of enzymes. how simple- and how obvious!
almost all the venomous snakes have Phospholipase A2 in their venom, but that's only one of many enzymes that can be found in snake venom.
Let me be really stereotypical here for a second and categorize snakes and venomtypes.
You've got two types of venom- Cyto (or hemo) toxins, and then neurotoxins.
Cytotoxins jam up your lymphatic systems, they kill cell walls, blood cells, blood vessels, heart and lung tissue- and make a huge mess. lots of bruising and blisters, maybe even some coughed up blood.
Neurotoxins are considered more dangerous- they kill nerve cells, and actually block neurotransmitters. They can cause paralysis, and they commonly stop your breathing.
one of the reasons they are more dangerous is that the effects are not clearly visible. You can't physically SEE shortness of breath- not like you can see someone's arm swell up and blister and bruise.
the lethal dosage from a texas coral snake (untreated, and for a human) is somewhere in the area of 8-16 mL. A western Diamondback is something like 81 or 82 mL, and the venom from a Mojave (the most dangerous N. American Rattlesnake) is something in the 50's or 60's.
this varies from person to person (it's like bees- some people are allergic, and some people seem fairly unnafected), and from snake to snake, too.
Also, a coral snake really has to chew on you for a while to get you with a lethal dosage.
I know HOW snake venom works- I've known that for a long time. but I never thought about what it was made up of. tonight I was reading the snake book my mom got me, and of course I finally read that it's made up of enzymes. how simple- and how obvious!
almost all the venomous snakes have Phospholipase A2 in their venom, but that's only one of many enzymes that can be found in snake venom.
Let me be really stereotypical here for a second and categorize snakes and venomtypes.
You've got two types of venom- Cyto (or hemo) toxins, and then neurotoxins.
Cytotoxins jam up your lymphatic systems, they kill cell walls, blood cells, blood vessels, heart and lung tissue- and make a huge mess. lots of bruising and blisters, maybe even some coughed up blood.
Neurotoxins are considered more dangerous- they kill nerve cells, and actually block neurotransmitters. They can cause paralysis, and they commonly stop your breathing.
one of the reasons they are more dangerous is that the effects are not clearly visible. You can't physically SEE shortness of breath- not like you can see someone's arm swell up and blister and bruise.
the lethal dosage from a texas coral snake (untreated, and for a human) is somewhere in the area of 8-16 mL. A western Diamondback is something like 81 or 82 mL, and the venom from a Mojave (the most dangerous N. American Rattlesnake) is something in the 50's or 60's.
this varies from person to person (it's like bees- some people are allergic, and some people seem fairly unnafected), and from snake to snake, too.
Also, a coral snake really has to chew on you for a while to get you with a lethal dosage.
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