Effects of Iranian Snakes Venom; True Sea and Terrestrial Snakes on Some Bacterial Cultures

The antibacterial activities of eight snake crude venom (Macrovipera lebetina obtusa, Pseudocerastes persicus, Pseudocerastes urarachnoides, Echis carinatus sochureki, Gloydius halys caucasicus, Naja (naja) oxiana, and two species of true sea snakes Enhydrina schistose and Hydrophis cyanocinctus) were assessed against five important standard pathogenic bacterial strains (Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus faecalis, vancomycin resistant Enterococcus faecium and Streptococcus pneumoniae). Broth micro-dilution method, standard disk diffusion assay and bio-autography based on polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis were used for this purpose. Snake venom revealed inhibitory effects against S. aureus and E. faecium strains. The moderate effects on S. aureus were showed by venomof P. urarachnoides, P. persicus and N. oxiana with MIC values of 20, 10 and 10 μg/ml respectively. Moreover, venom of E.carinatus, M.lebetina and G. halys showed strong effects (MICs= 40, 80, 160 μg/ml) respectively. In the case of E. faecium tested strain, the best inhibitory effects were exhibited by venom of P. persicus, P.urarachnoides, N. oxiana and M. lebetina (MIC= 10 μg/ml). According to the MIC values and inhibition zones in disk diffusion assays, the strongest antibacterial activity belonged to P. persicus and P. urarachnoides venoms.