ABSTRACT
The general unpleasant contact with venomous coelenterates has been the main cause of concern since these animals are usually found in the shallow coastal waters which people use for sports and recreation. Jellyfish venoms, contained in the nematocysts embedded in the tentacles, consist of complex and highly concentrated mixtures of proteins and polypeptides which possess enzymatic and a number of physiological activities. The toxicity of the Jellyfish venom is attributable to proteins capable of disrupting membrane structure and function. The crude extract was devoid of any hydrolytic enzymes normally present in venoms except for phospholipase A, with the specific activity of 135.6 m mol/min/mg extract protein. The crude extract caused lysis of erythrocyte membranes from different mammalian species with different potencies, where 20 mg of venom protein was shown to cause approximately 40%, 50% and 90% haemolysis of human, rabbit and rat erythrocytes.
