Thrombosis research
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Thrombosis research · Jan 2016
Comparative StudyProcoagulant snake venoms have differential effects in animal plasmas: Implications for antivenom testing in animal models.
Animal models are used to test toxic effects of snake venoms/toxins and the antivenom required to neutralise them. However, venoms that cause clinically relevant coagulopathy in humans may have differential effects in animals. We aimed to investigate the effect of different procoagulant snake venoms on various animal plasmas. ⋯ Different animal plasmas have varying susceptibility to procoagulant venoms, and excepting rabbits, animal models are not appropriate to test procoagulant activity. In vitro assays on human plasma should instead be adopted for this purpose.