Abstract
The main object of the present work was to achieve complete fractionation and purification of Cerastes cerastes gasperetti crude venom because the methods used so far failed to do this. The crude venom was fractionated into seven fractions by preparative native polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE). The separated venom fractions were eluted from gel pieces by electroelution. All fractions except fraction 6 appeared as a single band on analytical native PAGE. Crude venom (3.5 mg kg(-1)) by intraperitoneal injection was lethal to mice but all fractions (2 mg kg(-1)) were not lethal. Crude venom and fraction 5 showed phospholipase activity. Crude venom (400 mu g) and fraction 7 (50 mu g) had an anticoagulant effect on normal citrated human plasma, whereas fractions 1,2,3 and 4 exhibited a coagulant effect. The present method is a valuable, effective and quick method for complete fractionation and purification of Cerastes cerastes gasperetti crude venom.