Elapidae Snake Bites—Biophysical Aspects of the Neuroparalytic Envenomation

Abstract

Snakebite is classified by the WHO (World Health Organization) as a neglected tropical disease, envenoming in a significant public health problem in tropical and subtropical regions. Neurotoxicity is a key feature of different types of envenomations and there are many unanswered questions regarding this manifestation. Acute neuromuscular weakness with respiratory involvement is the most clinically important neurotoxic effect. We present how the neuroparalytic poison affects the human body and what actually happens when the poison is injected into the human body. Neuroparalytic poisons are one of the most lethal, because they cause paralysis of the eye, throat and chest muscles. A well-known member of the Elapidae family is the cobra. Bungarotoxins are a group of closely related neurotoxin proteins. The -bungarotoxin inhibits the binding of acetylcholine (ACh) to nicotinic acetylcholine receptors; -bungarotoxin and -bungarotoxins act presynaptically causing excessive acetylcholine release and