INVESTIGATION OF THE TOXINS OF THE VENOM OF THE SPIDER Linothele sp

摘要

It is known that proteins and peptides predominate among the bioorganic compounds forming spider venoms; recently, low-molecular-mass polyamine derivatives have been found in the venoms of some spiders [1, 2]. It is just with these components of the venoms that the overwhelming majority of their biological effects are connected, including their influence on the generation, conduction, and transmission of a nervous impulse. The neurotoxic activity of spider venoms is characterized by a fairly high selectivity in relation to the animals of different systematic groups, and this established fact [3] is of particularly great scientific and practical interest. It is considered [4] that a detailed analysis of the neurotoxic activities of spider venoms with the aim of identifying the active principles and elucidating the nature of their toxicity and its selective manifestations will simultaneously promote an understanding of features of the organization and functioning of the nervous system in animals belonging to different taxons. If it is borne in mind that venoms of animal origin have been found to contain substances attacking various parts of the reflex arc, the inclusion pf the corresponding investigations in a scientific program designed to solve the problem of the organization and mechanism of the functioning of the nervous system as a whole becomes obvious, which, of course stimulates scientific research in this direction.