ABSTRACT
Dendroaspis angusticeps is a green mamba snake found in the East and its venom has various strange types of pharmacological actions like stimulation of “nerve-muscle preparations”. In the venom of Dendroaspis angusticeps, the protein dendrotoxin or α-dendrotoxin is the “major facilitatory protein (MFS)”. There are 59 amino acids present in a single chain in the protein dendrotoxin which are cross-linked with each other by 3 disulfide bonds. The increase in the interest in pharmacological roles of dendrotoxins is due to the increase in the study of different potassium channels and their physiological roles. It has been demonstrated that dendrotoxins have the potential to block potassium channels of peripheral sensory neurons. In the dorsal root ganglion cells of guinea pig, a portion of “non-inactivating potassium current” is blocked by α-dendrotoxin. In the body cells there is presence of K+ channels and these K+ channels contribute to the regulation of membrane potential. The period of action potential is extended by the dendrotoxin I in “nodes of Ranvier” of the sciatic nerves of frog, by blocking a portion of potassium current, and there is a particular block of f1 components of potassium current.
