Citation

Hodgson WC, Wickramaratna JC. Toxicon 2006; 48(7): 931-940.

Affiliation

Monash Venom Group, Department of Pharmacology, Monash University, Victoria 3800, Australia. wayne.hodgson@med.monash.edu.au

Copyright

(Copyright © 2006, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.toxicon.2006.07.018

PMID

16920171

Abstract

Australia is home to a vast collection of highly venomous terrestrial and marine snakes. As such, Australia has proven to be an excellent source of investigative material for both local and international toxinologists. Research on snake venoms initially focussed on identifying the most lethal species, and the venom components responsible for the lethality, so that treatment strategies could be implemented. Since then, the focus of research has included the isolation and characterisation of toxins (primarily neurotoxins), examination of the efficacy of commercially available antivenoms and, more recently, the use of liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LCMS) to aid in the analysis of whole venoms. Given the vast quantity of research undertaken over the past 70 yr we have tried to provide a short insight into some of this excellent work and identify areas requiring further examination.

Language: en