Mild reproductive effects of the Tityus bahiensis scorpion venom in rats

BackgroundScorpion envenoming is a public health problem in Brazil, whereTityus serrulatus and T. bahiensisare considered the most dangerous scorpions. They are well adapted to urbanized environments, and there is an increasing probability of human exposure to these venoms, including during pregnancy. Not much is known about the effects of prenatal exposure to the venom, and no information is available to aid in the rational treatment of victims stung during pregnancy. Thus, this study aimed to investigate whether venom from the scorpion T. bahiensis administered once to pregnant female rats at a dose that causes a moderate envenomation may lead to deleterious effects on the reproductive performance of the dams and on the development of their offspring. This is the first work demonstrating that T. bahiensis venom, when administered experimentally to rats, alters maternal reproductive performance and the morphological development of fetuses. The venom was given to dams on the 5th (GD5) or on the 10th (GD10) gestational day. After laparotomy, on GD21, fetuses and placentas were counted, weighed and externally analyzed. The corpora lutea were counted. The sex and vitality of fetuses were evaluated, and each litter was then randomly divided for visceral or skeletal analyses. Data were analyzed by ANOVA followed by the Tukey-Kramer test and Fisher's exact test. The significance level for all tests was set at p背景：蝎螫伤在巴西属于公共卫生问题，其中锯齿蝎（Tityus serrulatus）与巴哈蝎（T. bahiensis）被认定为危险性最高的蝎子。这类蝎子能够很好地适应城市化生存环境，人类接触其毒液的概率持续攀升，妊娠群体也存在此类暴露风险。当前学界对产前蝎毒暴露的致病效应知之甚少，且尚无可用信息用于指导妊娠蝎螫伤患者的合理诊疗。为此，本研究旨在探究：向妊娠雌性大鼠单次给予可引发中等程度螫伤剂量的巴哈蝎毒，是否会对母鼠的生殖性能以及子代发育造成有害影响。本研究为首次通过实验证实：向大鼠给予巴哈蝎毒，可改变母鼠生殖性能与胎儿形态发育的相关研究。研究分别于妊娠第5天（GD5）或妊娠第10天（GD10）对母鼠给药。在妊娠第21天（GD21）实施剖腹手术后，对胎儿与胎盘进行计数、称重并开展外观形态学检查。同时计数黄体数目，评估胎儿的性别与存活状态，随后将每窝幼崽随机分组，分别用于内脏或骨骼结构分析。数据采用方差分析（ANOVA）后辅以Tukey-Kramer检验与Fisher精确检验进行统计学分析，所有检验的显著性水平设定为p