PROTEINASE, ARGININEESTER HYDROLASE AND A KININ RELEASING ENZYME IN SNAKE VENOMS

The distributions of proteinase, arginineester hydrolase and kinin releasing enzyme in 32 commercially available snake venoms were studied. The endopeptidase activity in Crotalidae venoms was considerably higher than that in Elapidae venoms, but significant differences in potency were observed even between different samples of the same species. The crude venoms of the families Crotalidae and Viperidae had arginineester hydrolytic activity independent of proteinase activity. There are significant differences of the arginineester hydrolytic activities even in the venoms of different species of the Crotalidae and Viperidae, and the venoms of Elapidae had no esterolytic activity. The kinin releasing activity like arginine ester hydrolytic activity was greatest in venoms of Crotalidae. However, some venoms of Crotalidae, such as the venom of Agkistrodon actus and the venom of Trimeresurus flavoviridis showed slight kinin releasing activity. © 1969.