Giselle Agostini Cotta

• Curator at Ezequiel Dias Foundation

Snakes are animals that are loved and, at the same time, feared, by many people around the world.The variety of colors and shapes are fascinating; however, the possibility of envenomation can be frightening to those that live near abundant snake populations. The diversity of snakes in Brazil is high, with over 420 described species, of which 70 are...

Aranhas são animais que fascinam e podem causar pânico em muitas pessoas. Há uma grande diversidade de espécies, com cores e formatos distintos, e as variadas estratégias que utilizam para capturar suas presas são, também, fascinantes. No mundo, há mais de 51 mil espécies de aranhas, sendo encontradas em quase todo o planeta, com exceção da Antárti...

Introduction: Ophidism is a neglected public health problem in many tropical countries. In Brazil, about 27,000 snakebites are recorded per year. The objective of this study is to describe the epidemiological profile of snakebite in Minas Gerais, Brazil, mapping risk areas, and correlating the incidence of accidents with urbanization and agricultur...

As serpentes são animais adorados e, ao mesmo tempo, temidos por muitas pessoas ao redor do mundo. A variedade de cores e formatos fascinam muitas pessoas, no entanto, a possibilidade de envenenamento amedronta muitas outras. A diversidade de serpentes no Brasil é grande, temos descritas mais de 420 espécies, sendo que destas, 70 são consideradas d...

No Brasil, ocorrem 35 espécies de corais-verdadeiras (gêneros Micrurus e Leptomicrurus), muitas delas apresentam colorações vibrantes, que funcionam como um sinal de advertência contra predadores. As falsas-corais, por possuírem coloração similar às corais verdadeiras, constituem mímicos destas, e acabam também se protegendo contra a predação. As c...

A divulgação sobre animais peçonhentos é um desafio que pressupõe conceitos científicos equivocados, crenças populares e dificuldade ao acesso à informação. Relatamos a experiência sobre a concepção, criação e execução da Exposição “Animais Peçonhentos em Rede” no 2º Encontro Internacional Vital para o Brasil, em Campanha/Minas Gerais, que recebeu...

The snake species Pseudoboa coronata has wide distribution from central Brazil to coastal Venezu-ela and the Guianas, eastern Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. In this note, the known distribution range of P. coronata is extended eastward to the border between the states of Bahia and Pernambuco, and southward to Cachoeira Alta, state of Goiás,...

Coral snakes from Micrurus genus are the main representatives of the Elapidae family in South America. However, biochemical and pharmacological features regarding their venom constituents remain poorly investigated. Here, venomic analyses were carried out aiming at a deeper understanding on the composition of M. frontalis, M. ibiboboca, and M. lemn...

The first PLA(2) (LsPA-1) from L. stenophrys snake venom was purified to homogeneity using three chromatographic steps and had its complete primary structure determined. An average molecular mass of 13,870.3 kDa was determined by mass spectrometry and a 3.3-fold increase in the PLA(2) activity was observed for LsPA-1 as compared to the whole venom....

The effect of the venom of the spider Lycosa erythrognatha on the frog sciatic nerve was investigated with the single sucrose-gap method. Solutions containing the crude venom (40 micrograms protein/ml) markedly increased the duration of compound action potentials and caused the appearance of long-lasting depolarizing post-potentials. These effects...

Standard assay procedures for the characterization of snake venoms, developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centre for the Control of Antivenoms (CCCA), were used to analyse 33 snake venoms including eight International Reference Venoms for the assessment of lethal, defibrinogenating, procoagulant, haemorrhagic and necrotizin...