Purpose: The snakes in Venezuela vary in their different venom composition amid the species. In this sense, studies have been carried out elucidating mechanisms related to their immunostimulatory and/or immunosuppressive effects in vitro, measuring inhibition or stimulation on the mice spleen and lymph nodes lymphocytes under the rattlesnake (Crotalus durissus cumanensis) (Cdc) and mapanare (Bothrops colombiensis) crude venoms actions, and also its purified fraction crotoxin (CTX) (Cdc) and a semi-purified fraction (SPF) (Bc) activities.

Material and methods: The stimulation of lymphocyte proliferation was carried out in the presence or absence of Concanavalin A (ConA) and lipopolysaccharides (LPS).

Results: The lymphocyte response was measured by the Alamar Blue^® (Resazurin) assay, observing that the Crotalus crude venom increased basal proliferation in the spleen and lymph nodes, being also increased with ConA and LPS. CTX slightly decreased the proliferative response in the presence of mitogens. Both Bc venom and its SPF fraction had no significant effect on basal proliferation in the spleen and lymph nodes, but a decrease in the response with ConA was observed. These results suggest that CTX has an inhibitory action on lymphocyte proliferation, while Cdc crude venom has a stimulatory action on T and B cell populations. Bothrops colombiensis venom had no effect on these two types of cell populations. As it is known, lymphocytes are cells of enormous flexibility and can operate in diverse aspects, warranting that the correct immune response persists controlled.

Conclusions: These results suggested that these different toxins can modulate lymphocyte functional activation toward an inhibitory or stimulatory state.

目的：委内瑞拉的蛇在物种中的毒液成分也有所不同。从这个意义上讲，已经进行了阐明其体外免疫刺激和/或免疫抑制作用的机制的研究，测量了响尾蛇（Croctalus durissus cumanensis）（Cdc）和mapanare（Bothrops）对小鼠脾脏和淋巴结淋巴细胞的抑制或刺激colombiensis）的毒液作用，以及它的纯化部分crotoxin（CTX）（Cdc）和半纯化部分（SPF）（Bc）活性。

材料和方法：在伴或伴有伴刀豆球蛋白A（ConA）和脂多糖（LPS）的情况下刺激淋巴细胞增殖。

结果：淋巴细胞反应通过阿尔玛蓝测定^®（刃天青）测定，观察到了响尾蛇粗毒液在脾和淋巴结增加的基础增殖，也被用ConA和LPS增加。在有丝分裂原存在下，CTX略微降低了增殖反应。两个BC毒液和其SPF级分对在脾和淋巴结基础增殖没有显著影响，但观察到在用ConA的响应的降低。这些结果表明，CTX对淋巴细胞增殖具有抑制作用，而Cdc粗毒液对T和B细胞群体具有刺激作用。哥伦比亚双子座毒液对这两种类型的细胞群均无影响。众所周知，淋巴细胞是具有极大灵活性的细胞，可以在各个方面起作用，从而保证了正确的免疫反应持续受到控制。

结论：这些结果表明，这些不同的毒素可以将淋巴细胞的功能性激活调节为抑制性或刺激性。