Isolation and Properties of a New Kallikrein Inhibitor from Tityus serrulatus Venom

The kallikrein inhibitor-peptide content of Tityus serrulatus scorpion crude venom was purified by Sephadex G-50 and Sephadex G-25 fine gel filtration chromatographies, followed by two steps of reverse-phase column on HPLC. The isolated inhibitor peptide was homogeneous in its N-terminal and partial amino acid sequence, showing a molecular weight of 4.489 Da by mass spectrometry and amino acid analysis. The peptide was tested with rat plasma and urine kallikrein, which resulting in an inhibition with similar afinity to both enzymes, showing an IC₅₀ of 14.3 M after 13 and 8 min, respectively, using kininogen as substrate on the isolated guinea-pig ileum bioassay. The porcine pancreatic kallikrein showed after 10 min an IC₅₀ value of 12.6 M with H-D-Val-Leu-Arg-pNA HCl as substrate. In addition, the isolated peptide significantly inhibited porcine pancreatic kallikrein with values in the range of apparent or absolute calculated peptide K _i = 2.5 M. The inhibitor was heat resistant and stable at pH values less than 5.