Scorpion venom
Venom samples-
Twenty telsons from each collected species of scorpions were used. Venom solution was prepared using the maceration method in which telsons were removed from anesthetized scorpions at the point of their articulation with the last caudal segment as previously described by Ozkan et al. (2006a,b,c) and Ozkan and Filazi (2004). All telsons were weighed. Then, they were ground to a fine powder which was dissolved in physiologic saline solution (PSS; 0.9% w/v NaCl) and kept at 4 °C for 72 h. The venom solution was centrifuged at 10000g for 10 min at 4 °C. Supernatant was removed and immediately lyophilized and stored at −20 °C until use.
Protein assay
Protein content of the venom samples was determined by reading absorbance at 280 nm and expressed as mg protein/ml (Layne, 1957; Stoscheck, 1990).
Sodium dodecyl sulfate–polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS–PAGE)
SDS–PAGE (12% gel) analyses of both venom samples and their protein bands were carried out according to Laemmeli (1970). Proteins were stained with 0.1% Coomassie Blue R-250 Silver. Molecular mass standard (Sigma, S8445) was run in parallel in order to calculate the molecular weights of proteins. Then, gel was photographed and the molecular weights were calculated using Molecular Imaging Software (MIS, Kodak). A similarity matrix was constructed on the basis of the presence/absence of bands from Dice’s similarity coefficient (Dice, 1945) using the formula:
where a = number of bands shared between samples 1 and 2, b = the number of bands present in 1 but not in 2 and c = number of bands present in 2 but not in 1.
Results
Surveillance studies-
During the present study eight species of scorpions were collected from different regions from the period from April to October and placed in glass containers to be examined for taxonomical identifications compared to general morphology of the scorpion as shown in Fig. 2. Scorpions were collected from five localities in Egypt (Aswan, Sinai, Baltim, Borg El-Arab, and Marsa-Matrouh) as indicated in a map
Scorpions give birth to live young-
scorpion venom:Some scorpions develop within a membrane, where they receive nourishment both from a yolk and from their mothers. Others develop without a membrane and receive nourishment directly from their mothers. The gestational stage can be as short as two months, or as long as 18 months, depending on the species. After birth, the newborn scorpions ride on their mother’s back, where they remain protected until they molt for the first time. After this, they disperse
Scorpion venom.
