Mem. Inst. Butantan 
49(21:41-45, 1987. 
THE POSSIBLE ROLE OF PARA-PEPSIN IN 
THE PREPARATION OF ANTI-VENOM SERA 
Nilza Yurimi OISHI* 
Celina M.P.M. UEDA' 
Waldely de Oliveira DIAS' 
Conceição M.L. LATRILHA* 
Isaias RAW' 
ABSTRACT: Pepsin treatment to obtain a good yield of anti-toxin sera is 
about a thousand times higher than that required for Fc removal. Compa- 
ring the activity of several crude commercial pepsins, and fractions obtai- 
ned by DEAE-chromatography it was shown that yield is related to the 
activity at pH 3.2, that is due to one of the para-pepsins. Results suggest 
that anti-toxin sera can be prepared with purified pepsin, with a good 
yield and less contamination from the crude porcine stomach prepara- 
tion. 
KEYWORDS: anti-venom, sera, pepsin, para-pepsin, Crotalus 
INTRODUCTION 
The preparation of anti-venom sera was developed by Pope 4 , that intro- 
duced a pepsin digestion step, obtaining a heat stable product which was 
purified by heat denaturation. This method was improved by Harms 1 , at a 
time when the structure and function of immunoglobins were not unders- 
tood. Further improvements in the Processing of anti sera requires a better 
understanding of the pepsin treatment. In the present paper we have analy- 
sed the yield of anti-venom with various pepsins and pepsin fraction, obtai¬ 
ning results that suggest the role of para-pepsin minor stomach isoenzy- 
mes, in the digestion process. 
MATERIALS AND METHODS 
Anti-venom preparation: Unless otherwise specified, hiperimmune hor- 
se plasma, produced by immunization with venom of Crotalus durissus 
terrificus, was digested with 5 g/L of pepsin, for 30 minutes at 3 o C, trea- 
1 Instituto Butantan - Labotarório Especial de Biotecnologia - Caixa Postal 65 
This work was supported by FINEP (grants 4.3.84.0263 and 4.3.85.0235) 
CEP 05504 São Paulo - Brasil 
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