An in vitro comparison of venom recovery methods and results on the box jellyfish, Chironex fleckeri

The emergence of novel venom extraction techniques over the last half-century has greatly facilitated advances in the field of cnidarian research. A new recovery protocol utilizing ethanol as the primary stimulant in nematocyst discharge was recently published, however in vitro examination of the venom on organic models was not performed. This present study reports an original comparison of the chemically-induced discharge technique in vitro with a commonly used saltwater extraction method. Size-exclusion chromatography revealed distinct differences in venom profiles between the two methods: the saltwater recovery method FPLC profile and SDS-PAGE gel were similar to previously published results, whereas the ethanol-induced method was not. SDS-PAGE gel revealed distinct 40–55 kDa bands of previously identified cardiotoxic proteins recovered from the saltwater method, whereas the ethanol-induced method yielded degraded venom protein bands. A concentration-response curve generated through xCELLigence Real-Time Cell Analysis (RTCA) revealed a dramatic decrease in human cardiomyocyte activity when venom recovered via saltwater discharge was applied to these cells. With the exception of one sample, all ethanol-induced recovered venom failed to prompt a concentration-dependent decrease in cell survival when applied to human cardiomyocytes, resulting in a significant difference in IC50 concentrations between the compared venom samples. The data presented here facilitates an improved understanding of the parameters and analyses that are essential when developing and utilizing novel techniques for future cnidarian venom extraction research and supports the conclusion that recovery of venom from the tentacles of the box jellyfish Chironex fleckeri by ethanol is not an effective, efficient, or comprehensive extraction method compared to the published method of saltwater degradation of tentacles and bead mill extraction.