Published ahead of print on January 24, 2003, doi:10.1164/rccm.200207-688OC Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med., Volume 167, Number 8, April 2003, 1064-1067 A more recent version of this article appeared on April 15, 2003
Submitted on July 11, 2002 SCORPION VENOM DECREASES LUNG LIQUID CLEARANCE IN RATSAlejandro P Comellas1,1 Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA * To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: j-sznajder{at}nwu.edu.
It has been reported that scorpion venom causes respiratory failure and pulmonary edema. However, the effects of this toxin on lung edema clearance have not been previously studied. We examined the effects of scorpion venom (Tityus serrulatus) on the ability of the lung to clear fluid and on alveolar epithelial Na,K-ATPase. Wet to dry lung weight ratio was increased in anesthetized rats injected intraperitonally (i.p.) with scorpion venom. Lung edema clearance decreased by up to 60% in rats injected with the venom. Na,K-ATPase Key words: Na,K-ATPase, sodium transport, scorpion venom, alveolar epithelial cells
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1-subunit protein abundance and activity decreased at the basolateral membranes of alveolar epithelial type II cells (ATII) incubated with scorpion venom as compared to controls. There was no difference of cell injury in ATII cells incubated with scorpion venom for 60 min as compared to controls. We provide here the first evidence that scorpion venom decreases lung liquid clearance, probably by downregulating Na,K-ATPase in the alveolar epithelium.
