Isolation and characterization of toxic proteins from the venom of the Venezuelan scorpion Tityus discrepans (Karsch)

Four toxic, electrophoretically homogeneous proteins were isolated by ion-exchange chromatography on CM-cellulose-52 from the venom of the scorpion Tityus discrepans (range North Central Venezuela), named TdIV, TdV, TdVIII and TdIX. Component TdVIII, with 56 amino acid residues and mol. wt 6140 was the most toxic by i.p. injections into mice and had an intracisternal LD50 of 7.9 micrograms protein/kg body weight. Amino acid compositions of components TdIV and TdV were very similar, suggesting that they could be highly homologous proteins, although presumably contaminated one by the other. A fifth component, named TdIII, non-toxic by i.p. injections, was also isolated in homogeneous form. The i.v. and intracisternal LD50 values of the whole T. discrepans venom were 2.5 mg/kg and 16.0 micrograms/kg, respectively.