Snake venom proteins in hemostasis: new results

Biological features of venomous snakes as well as biochemical properties and actions of their venoms which serve for prey acquisition, indicate the vertebrates' haemostasis system as a vulnerable target for snake venom actions. Components exerting a specific, either stimulating or inactivating effect on basal membrane or endothelial cells of the vascular wall, on platelets, on almost every step of plasma coagulation or fibrinolysis respectively, have been isolated and purified from snake venoms. Snake venom proteins acting with a defined specificity on cellular or plasmatic components of the human haemostatic system are being used in coagulation and aggregation tests, in photometric assays in conjunction with chromogenic substrates as well as in immunological systems as biochemical tools for research and diagnostic purposes.