Biochemical and biological properties of Lonomia obliqua bristle extract

lonomia obliqua caterpillar is frequently seen in accidents with humans especially in the south of brazil. patients develop a hemorrhagic syndrome that can be treated with specific antilonomic serum. a consumptive coagulopathy was found to be the main cause of bleeding complications observed in patients after contact with l. obliqua. studies revealed that l. obliqua caterpillar bristle extract (locbe) displays a procoagulant activity that leads to intravascular thrombin formation, resulting in a special form of disseminated intravascular coagulation (dic). fibrinolysis seems to be secondary to the fibrin production, since no direct fibrinolytic activity was found in locbe. two procoagulant toxins, a factor x activator (losac) and a prothrombin activator (lopap), were isolated from locbe and characterized. infusion of lopap into experimental animals triggered a condition similar to that observed in human envenomation.