Cerastes cerastes (Egyptian Sand Viper) venom induced platelet aggregation as compared to other agonists

The Egyptian Sand Viper (Cerastes cerastes) crude venom and subfractions were, for the first time, shown to induce platelet aggregation with agonist activities present in two subfractions. The combined activities of the crude venom components behaved in a unique fashion as compared to the platelet agonists, ADP, collagen and thrombin. The action of the venom was inhibited by conditions that increased cAMP, partially required the formation of thromboxane A2 and was inhibited by the serine protease inhibitor PMSF while being only partially sensitive to leupeptin or soybean trypsin inhibitor. One of the fractionated venom agonists strongly induced serotonin release while the other venom agonist essentially did not. Further characterization of the Cerastes cerastes venom components should broaden our knowledge of the pathology of snake venoms, platelet aggregation and their potential therapeutic value.