Blood-thinning drug heparin may stop snakebite victims losing limbs

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Blood-thinning ***** heparin may stop snakebite victims losing limbs

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A ******-necked spitting cobra, which are mostly in sub-Saharan *******

Luca Boldrini (CC BY-SA)

A commonly used blood thinner could prevent hundreds of thousands of people from needing amputations after a cobra *****.

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, mostly in sub-Saharan ******* and South and South-East Asia. Another 400,000 people have complications, such as the ****** of body tissues and subsequent amputations.

Focusing on complications from cobra bites,

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at the University of Sydney, Australia, and her team found that the venom targets a molecule called heparan sulfate, which lines the surface of cells at the site of the *****, and a naturally occurring substance called heparin, which is produced by certain immune cells.

Next, the researchers exposed human skin and blood cells to the venom of two cobra species from *******: the red spitting cobra (Naja pallida) and the ******-necked spitting cobra (Naja nigricollis). Adding heparin, which is commonly administered as a ***** to thin blood, prevented the toxins from ******** the cells.

Similar experiments in mice also reduced the risk of tissue ******. In mice, heparin “could almost completely block the local damage at the ***** site”, says team member

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also at the University of Sydney.

The scientists think the treatment could be effective for bites from many different types of cobras but is unlikely to work on non-cobra species, unless their toxins use a similar chemical pathway to ******** cells.

Unlike existing antivenoms, heparin is stable at room temperature, which could improve access when prompt treatment is needed, says Du. This could be done via an auto-injector, such as an EpiPen, she says.

Another advantage of heparin is that existing antivenoms don’t prevent necrosis, says Du. However,

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at the University of Newcastle in Australia says that is probably because they are not generally available immediately after a snakebite.

“What they didn’t do in this article was compare this to antivenom, because it is highly likely that antivenom would be just as effective,” he says. The mice were given heparin immediately, which may have been why it was effective, says Isbister. “But will it work after 1 hour, 4 hours or [the] 24 hours that it takes to get from a remote location in Tanzania to a person bitten by a cobra?”

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#Bloodthinning #***** #heparin #stop #snakebite #victims #losing #limbs

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