The novel antidote Bezoar Bovis prevents the cardiotoxicity of Toad (Bufo bufo gargarizans Canto) Venom in mice

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Abstract

Toad Venom, called chansu (CS) in China, is an anti-inflammatory drug used in small doses for the treatment of various types of inflammation in China. Its use is hampered by the cardiotoxicity of bufadienolides derived from Toad Venom. Bezoar Bovis is another frequently used drug in Toad Venom preparations for the treatment of inflammatory or cardiovascular diseases in Asia. We explored whether Bezoar Bovis could protect against CS-induced acute toxicity in mice. Toxicity was assessed by the general features of poisoning, electrocardiography (ECG), and levels of creatine kinase (CK), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and calcium ions (Ca(2+)) in cardiac tissues. Toad Venom (90 mg/kg) caused opisthotonus, ventricular arrhythmias, and increases in cardiac levels of Ca(2+), CK and LDH. Pretreatment with Bezoar Bovis (120, 240 and 480 mg/kg) significantly reduced the prevalence of opisthotonus and mortality, and prevented cardiotoxicity in CS-treated mice as evidenced by decreases in the scores of arrhythmias and cardiac levels of CK, LDH and Ca(2+). Furthermore, the bilirubin, and taurine derived from Bezoar Bovis offered marked protection against the arrhythmias induced by CS or bufalin in vivo and in vitro. An anti-inflammatory study showed that Bezoar Bovis did not compromise the anti-inflammatory activity of Toad Venom on concanavalin-A (ConA)-stimulated proliferation of human peripheral blood mononuclear cells. These results suggested that Bezoar Bovis elicited protective and anti-arrhythmic effects against Toad Venom intoxication in mice, and is a novel antidote in combination with Toad Venom therapy.

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Peiying Yang, P. Newman, K Block … (2008)

The class of steroid-like compounds designated cardiac glycosides includes well-known drugs such as digoxin, digitoxin, and ouabain. Their continued efficacy in treatment of congestive heart failure and as anti-arrhythmic agents is well appreciated. Less well known, however, is the emerging role of this category of compounds in the prevention and/or treatment of proliferative diseases such as cancer. New findings within the past five years have revealed these compounds to be involved in complex cell-signal transduction mechanisms, resulting in selective control of human tumor but not normal cellular proliferation. As such, they represent a promising form of targeted cancer chemotherapy. New clinical studies of their anticancer potential as single or adjuvant treatments may provide insight into these potentially valuable therapeutic options. This review focuses on recent findings on cellular pharmacology of cardiac glycosides as they relate to treatment of human cancer and attempts to explain why these agents have been overlooked in the past.

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Poisons are common in nature, where they often serve the organism in chemical defense. Such poisons either are produced de novo or are sequestered from dietary sources or symbiotic organisms. Among vertebrates, amphibians are notable for the wide range of noxious agents that are contained in granular skin glands. These compounds include amines, peptides, proteins, steroids, and both water-soluble and lipid-soluble alkaloids. With the exception of the alkaloids, most seem to be produced de novo by the amphibian. The skin of amphibians contains many structural classes of alkaloids previously unknown in nature. These include the batrachotoxins, which have recently been discovered to also occur in skin and feathers of a bird, the histrionicotoxins, the gephyrotoxins, the decahydroquinolines, the pumiliotoxins and homopumiliotoxins, epibatidine, and the samandarines. Some amphibian skin alkaloids are clearly sequestered from the diet, which consists mainly of small arthropods. These include pyrrolizidine and indolizidine alkaloids from ants, tricyclic coccinellines from beetles, and pyrrolizidine oximes, presumably from millipedes. The sources of other alkaloids in amphibian skin, including the batrachotoxins, the decahydroquinolines, the histrionicotoxins, the pumiliotoxins, and epibatidine, are unknown. While it is possible that these are produced de novo or by symbiotic microorganisms, it appears more likely that they are sequestered by the amphibians from as yet unknown dietary sources.

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Zijian Xie (2003)

Our recent work shows that in addition to pumping ions, Na/K-ATPase acts as a signal transducer. Binding of ouabain to Na/K-ATPase changes the interaction of the enzyme with neighboring membrane proteins and induces the formation of multiple signaling modules, resulting in activation of Src, transactivation of the EGF receptor (EGFR), and increased production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Interaction of these signals leads to activation of several other cascades, including p42/44 and p38 MAPKs, phospholipase C, and protein kinase C isozymes, in a cell-specific manner. Ouabain also increases [Ca(2+)](i) and contractility, induces some of the early-response protooncogenes, and activates transcription factors AP-1 and NF-kappaB. Interplay among these pathways eventually results in changes in the expression of a number of growth-related genes and in cell growth. Significantly, inhibition of Src blocked many of the aforementioned ouabain-activated signaling pathways. Furthermore, Src binds to Na/K-ATPase directly and ouabain regulates the interaction between Src and the enzyme, resulting in Src activation. To address the possibility that the signaling Na/K-ATPase is concentrated in a separate pool on the plasma membrane, we have assessed interaction of the enzyme with caveolins. These studies indicated that Na/K-ATPase was concentrated in caveolae/rafts. In addition, caveolin-1 can be co-immunoprecipitated with Na/K-ATPase. Finally, we have shown that the signaling function of the enzyme is also pivotal to ouabain-induced nongenomic effects on cardiac myocytes.