Purification of Animal Neurotoxins.

The purification of eleven neurotoxins from the venom of three scorpions (Androctonus australis Hector, Buthus occitanus tunetanus and Leiurus quinquestriatus quinquestreatus) has been performed by Sephadex G-50 filtration (with and without recycling) and equilibrium chromatography on Amberlite CG-50, CM-Sephadex C-50 and DEAE-Sephadex A-50. All the chromatographic steps were carried out in ammonium acetate buffers. Purity of the neurotoxins was assessed by amino acid analysis and zone electrophoresis. All have a molecular weight of about 7000 daltons and do not contain methionine. As shown by amino acid composition and chain length scorpion neurotoxins show a high degree of homology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]