抄録
Determination of the chemical properties of the venom of Chiracanthium japonicum, which is well known as the most medically important spider in Japan, was studied. The venom was prepared by dissecting out the venom glands from mature female spiders. Then the glands were homogenized in phosphate buffer solution (PBS) with a glass homogenizer. The clear, viscous surpernatant obtained by centrifugation was stored in a small vial and regarded as the crude venom. This venom was fractionated on a Sephadex G-200 column. The white mice (JCL) were injected intraperitoneally with 0.2ml of different concentrations of the fractionated venom. The lethal activity was noted. Lethal activity was fractionated on a CM Sephadex C-50 column. The fractions were regarded as the purified venom. The toxic responses to mice were dyspnea, prostration, flaccid paralysis and death. The lethal activity was determined to be neurotoxic in action. The minimal lethal dose (MLD) of the purified venom for mice was 10μg. The house-fly was used for the toxicity test. The LD_<50> was 0.069μg/honsefly. The erythematic activity on rabbit hide was examined by injecting the venom intradermally. The minimal redness dose (MRD) to evoke 10×10mm size of redness in the rabbit was 0.7μg. The molecular weight of purified protein was 63,000±2,000. The toxicity to mice was completely destroyed by heating at 60℃ in 10 minutes and lost at 0℃ in five to seven days.
