Tein-Shun Tsai

• PhD
• Professor at National Pingtung University of Science and Technology

Snakebite envenomation is a significant global health issue that requires specific antivenom treatments. In Taiwan, available antivenoms target a variety of snakes, but none specifically target Trimeresurus gracilis, an endemic and protected species found in the high mountain areas of Taiwan. This study evaluated the effectiveness of existing antiv...

The oral cavity of snakes serves as a habitat for various microorganisms, some of which may include potential zoonotic pathogens posing risks to hosts and causing wound infections in snakebite victims. Clinical studies on snakebite cases in Taiwan have identified specific pathogens, such as Enterococcus faecalis (Gram-positive), Morganella morganii...

Snakebite envenomation is a neglected tropical disease. Taiwan, with its subtropical and Southeast Asian environment, provides suitable habitat for several venomous snake species. Trimeresurus stejnegeri , an arboreal pit viper, is the most common cause of venomous snakebite in Taiwan. Trimeresurus stejnegeri envenomation can cause local swelling,...

Simple Summary There are millions of snake envenoming cases annually worldwide, which is an important but often neglected tropical disease. The morbidity and mortality from snake bites are not only caused by the venom toxins but also the secondary infection from bacteria from the snake itself or an external source. Therefore, if we do not understan...

Trimeresurus gracilis is an endemic alpine pitviper in Taiwan with controversial phylogeny, and its venom proteome remains unknown. In this study, we conducted a proteomic analysis of T. gracilis venom using high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry and identified 155 toxin proteoforms that belong to 13 viperid venom toxin fam...

The cDNAs encoding the Zn+2-metalloproteases (SVMPs) of Trimeresurus gracilis (abbreviated as Tgc), a pitviper endemic to Taiwan, were cloned from venom glands and sequenced. The amino-acid sequences of five novel SVMPs, including one P-III, three P-II and one P-I class enzymes, were thus deduced and subjected to BLAST-analyses. The P-III enzyme (d...

Wound infections after venomous snakebites are clinically important. Information regarding the nature and antibiotic susceptibilities of snake oral bacterial flora could support empiric antibiotic therapy. Wild venomous snakes were collected from southern Taiwan: a total of 30 each of Bungarus multicinctus, Naja atra, Protobothrops mucrosquamatus,...

Trimeresurus gracilis is a pit viper inhabiting the high mountains of Taiwan. No specific antivenom against T. gracilis is available, and we did not find any prior published case reports on its clinical envenomation. We present two patients with T. gracilis envenomation who were both bitten on the index finger and were administered bivalent hemotox...

Reports of envenomation induced by Daboia siamensis, a medically important venomous snake in Taiwan, are rare, and species identification might not be definitive. This article reports the complete course of a definite D. siamensis bite. The patient in this report was one of the authors who was bitten on the right palm near the base of the index fin...

Trimeresurus gracilis (Tgc) is endemic to Taiwan and shown to be closely related with Ovophis okinavensis by previous phylogenetic analyses, but their taxonomic status remain controversial. Here, we cloned and sequenced ten of its venom serine-proteases (designated as Tgc-vSPs). All the Tgc-vSPs conserve the catalytic triads, six appear to be kalli...

Shed skins of snakes have practical applications and can provide information on biodiversity. We examined shed skins or scales stripped from 53 native species of snakes from Taiwan and adjacent islands and 13 foreign species, verified the intraspecific variation of microstructures on the scales, conducted phylogenetic comparative analyses of microd...

Significance Animals protected by sequestered toxins must employ an alternative source of defensive chemicals when a shift in diet evolves. Snakes of the genus Rhabdophis possess defensive glands that store powerful defensive toxins known as bufadienolides. The ancestral prey of Rhabdophis consists of anuran amphibians, including toads (Bufonidae)...

A large body of evidence indicates that evolutionary innovations of novel organs have facilitated the subsequent diversification of species. Investigation of the evolutionary history of such organs should provide important clues for understanding the basis for species diversification. An Asian natricine snake, Rhabdophis tigrinus, possesses a serie...

Few convenient/expeditious methods for identifying the species of shed snake skins in specific areas have been developed. The scales on shed snake skins are permeable to light and can be examined by light microscopy (LM), which is of higher availability—especially for wild animal researchers and citizen scientists—than conventional approach which e...

Morphometric measurements are basic but essential data in morphological and ecological research. It is thus beneficial to develop a safe, convenient, multipurpose device/technique to determine body length and physical characteristics of living snakes with high accuracy/precision and low stress, and to enable the probing of snakes and collection of...

Unfortunately, one of the co-author’s family name has been incorrectly published in the original online publication. The correct family name should be Tsai.

Shed snake skins have many applications for humans and other animals, and can provide much useful information to a field survey. When properly prepared and identified, a shed snake skin can be used as an important voucher; the morphological descriptions of the shed skins may be critical for taxonomic research, as well as studies of snake ecology an...

The genus Laticauda (Reptilia: Elapidae), commonly known as sea kraits, is venomous marine amphibious snakes distributed throughout the south and southeast Asian islands and mostly found in coastal waters. To facilitate genetic studies, we have developed microsatellite loci for L. semifasciata using the 454 GS-FLX pyrosequencing technique. A total...

To investigate the phylogenetic relationships of the genus Laticauda to related higher taxa, we compared the sequences of four mitochondrial genes (12S rRNA, 16S rRNA, ND4, Cytb) from three Laticauda species (L. colubrina, L. laticaudata, and L. semifasciata) with those of 55 Asian and Australo-Melanesian elapid species. We also characterized the c...

Marine reptiles are declining globally, and recent climate change may be a contributing factor. The study of sea snakes collected beyond their typical distribution range provides valuable insight on how climate change affects marine reptile populations. Recently, we collected 12 Laticauda semifasciata (11 females, 1 male) from the waters around sou...

This study deciphers the geographic variations of king cobra (Ophiophagus hannah) venom using functional proteomics. Pooled samples of king cobra venom (abbreviated as Ohv) were obtained from Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and two provinces of China, namely Guangxi and Hainan. Using two animal models to test and compare the lethal effects, we found...

This study focuses on the structural and functional characterizations of novel venom phospholipases A(2) (PLA(2)s) from Trimeresurus gracilis, an endemic Taiwanese pitviper. The PLA(2) cDNAs were cloned from venom glands and sequenced. The majority of the clones encoded a Glu6-containing PLA(2) (designated as Tgc-E6) whose deduced amino acid sequen...

AbstractWith bioenergetic modeling, we tested the hypothesis that reptiles maximize net energy gain by postprandial thermal selection. Previous studies have shown that Chinese green tree vipers (Trimeresurus s. stejnegeri) have postprandial thermophily (mean preferred temperature Tp for males = 27.8 °C) in a linear thigmothermal gradient when seclu...

With bioenergetic modeling, we tested the hypothesis that reptiles maximize net energy gain by postprandial thermal selection. Previous studies have shown that Chinese green tree vipers (Trimeresurus s. stejnegeri) have postprandial thermophily (mean preferred temperature T p for males = 27.8 °C) in a linear thigmothermal gradient when seclusion si...

It has been a common belief that snake venom may help in the digestion of its prey, although direct examples and supporting evidence have not been sufficient. To address this, the present study examined whether pre-injecting natural amounts of pit viper venom into experimental mice may accelerate their digestion by the snakes or gain energy benefit...

The major aims of this study were to assess the effects of temperature (1535C) and meal size (less than 30% snake mass) on the metabolism and digestive physiology of Trimeresurus stejnegeri stejnegeri Schmidt, 1925 and to compare the results with those of terrestrial snakes. Specific dynamic action (SDA), peak Vo2, and scope of peak Vo2 increased w...

631 Numerous lineages of snakes, including col-ubrids, viperids, and boids, have independently evolved arboreal habits (Lillywhite and Henderson 1993). Many general questions related to arbore-ality and the constraints or opportunities of arbore-al habits have been addressed in recent years (Lillywhite and Smits 1992, Lillywhite and Henderson 1993)...

1. Measuring snake temperature selection in a linear thigmothermal gradient is a common way to determine preferred temperature (T p). However, few investigators have checked the degree of instrumental interferences. We conducted three experiments to study the possible effect of thermocouples, the influence of seclusion, and the presence of water on...

Phospholipases A2 (PLA2s) were purified from the Trimeresurus stejnegeri venom obtained from various localities in Taiwan and three provinces in China, by gel filtration followed by reversed-phase HPLC. The precise molecular mass and N-terminal sequence of each PLA2 were determined. In addition to the six previously documented PLA2 isoforms of this...

We study the thermal selection of adult female Chinese green tree vipers in a thigmothermal gradient. Preferred temperature was higher after feeding or during pregnancy. Pre- and post-prandial preferred temperatures of non-reproductive females (N = 16) were 21.2 ± 1.4 oC (Tset = 17.0 ~ 25.9 oC) and 24.8 ± 1.5 oC (Tset = 22.5 ~ 29.3 oC), respectivel...

From March 1996-August 1997, we studied the reproductive cycle of 132 female Chinese green tree vipers, Trimeresurus stejnegeri stejnegeri, in northern Taiwan by examining seasonal changes in their hormone levels and reproductive organ morphology and histology. Based on follicle size and the presence or absence of corpora lutea, we classified each...

From March 1996-August 1997, we studied the reproductive cycle of 132 female Chinese green tree vipers, Trimeresurus stejnegert stejnegeri, in northern Taiwan by examining seasonal changes in their hormone levels and reproductive organ morphology and histology. Based on follicle size and the presence or absence of corpora lutea, we classified each...

We studied the reproductive cycle of male Chinese green tree vipers, Trimeresurus s. stejnegeri, in northern Taiwan by examining seasonal changes in the morphology and histology of their reproductive organ from May 1996 to August 1997. A total of 144 mature males were examined. Based on histological examination of seminiferous epithelium, we classi...

[In Chinese] We measured eleven morphometric characters of Chinese green tree vipers, Trimeresurus stejnegeri stejnegeri in Taiwan. The data from 168 male and 147 female snakes revealed that sexual dimorphism was pronounced either in mature or immature snakes. Minimum snout-vent lengths(SVL) at sexual maturity of male and female snakes were 37.0 an...