FERMENTS IN SNAKE VENOM 213 



DIASTATIC ACTIONS OF SNAKE VENOM. 



In 1884 Lacerda 1 made a series of observations, ascribing to venom the 

 power of emulsifying fats and coagulating milk, but not of saccharifying 

 starch. His experiments did not exclude possible bacterial contamination 

 and are considered not conclusive as to the interpretation he thus offered. 



In 1894 Wehrmann, 2 under Calmette, and then Launoy, 3 repeated this 

 study, and found that venom does not hydrolyze starch or inulin; but that 

 saccharose is slightly inverted by the venom of cobra and of viper. Venom 

 does not modify glucosides — amygdalin, coniferin, salicin, arbutin, and 

 digitalin; hence it does not contain emulsin. According to Launoy cobra 

 venom has no catalytic action, neither positive nor negative, upon soluble 

 ferments: emulsin, amylase, and pancreatin. It exerts a slight inhibitory 

 action upon pepsin. 



On the other hand, Delezenne 4 has shown that venom contains a kinase 

 and activates the inactive pancreatic juice, enabling the latter energetically 

 to hydrolyze albumin. This investigator found that 0.0005 to 0.001 gm. of 

 lachesis venom added to 1 c.c. of pancreatic juice can completely digest 0.5 gm. 

 of albumin within 10 to 12 hours. Even 0.0002 to 0.0001 gm. and sometimes 

 only 0.0000125 g m - w ere sufficient to digest the same quantity of albumin, 

 although 24 hours, 48 hours, and 72 hours were respectively required to com- 

 plete its action. Cobra venom was found to be less active, requiring 0.0005 

 to 0.0001 gm., and the pelias venom requires about 5 times as much to obtain 

 the same effect. Delezenne found that this kinetic property of venom dis- 

 appears when heated to ioo° C. for 15 minutes. 



LIPOLYTIC ACTION OF SNAKE VENOM. 

 According to Neuberg and Rosenberg 5 snake venom has a feeble lipolytic 

 power on lecithin, olive oil, and castor oil, and this action is accelerated by 

 the addition of manganese sulphate. The proof for the existence of such 

 ferment in venom requires a strict quantitative work, because the materials 

 used for this test have more or less inherent acidity, especially the lipoids. 

 Scrutinizing the work of these investigators, we find that the reaction, as the 

 lipolytic action of snake venom on neutral fats is so weak that the increase in the 

 degree of acidity after splitting, does not exceed one-tenth of that already 

 present before the venom has acted. On the other hand, the increase in 

 acidity is much more pronounced when the activator (MnS0 4 ) is used and 

 may amount to one-third the original acidity. The splitting of lecithin 

 is much more easily accomplished by venom and the increase in acidity may 

 amount to nearly 5 times the original in the case of cobra venom and 

 2 times in the case of water-moccasin venom. The lipolytic action of cro- 

 talus venom on lecithin was not stated by these investigators. 



1 Lacerda. Lecons sur le venin des serpents du Brasil. 1884. 



2 Wehrmann. Ann. Inst. Pasteur, 1898, XII, 510. 



3 Launoy. These, Paris, 1903. loc. cit. 



* Delezenne. C. R. Ac. des Sc, 1902, CXXXV, 329. 



« Neuberg und Rosenberg. Lipolyse, Agglutination, Hamolyse. Berlin, klin. Woch., 1907, XLIV, 54. 



