Isolation and
Characterization of a Neurotrophic Factor-like
Substance from Venom of Agkistrodon acutus
GUO Li-Ying, PANG Sha, RUAN Qiao-Qiao and ZHOU Yuan-Cong
( Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai
200031, China )
Abstract A neurotrophic factor-like
substance from Agkistrodon acutus was isolated by ion exchange and gel
filtration chromatography and was found to be homogenous by electrophoresis.
Itsmolecular weight was estimated to be approximately 26 kD by gel filtration.
A characteristic of the substance was that the protein consisted of two
subunits, which were bound one to another noncovalently. The analytical
isoelectric focusing revealed its isoelectric point of 7.8. The biological
activity of the substance was comparable to that of mouse 2.5 S NGF. It rescued
PC12 cells from apoptosis at the concentration interval of 1–100 mg/L
and could induce PC12 cells differentiate to sympathetic-like neurons.
Key Words Agkistrodon acutus；neurotrophic factor；isolation and characterization
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