Animal Venoms and Nephrotoxic Effects

Animal venoms are truly mortal cocktails of various toxins with the mere purpose of evolution for the survival of the organism it endogenously possesses. Due to the significant and unavoidable venomous animal-human interactions, human envenomation is an important public health concern. Animal venom toxins are capable of affecting human physiology resulting in nonlethal allergy, erythema, and pain at the site of sting or bite that subsides without any medical interventions to a more serious anaphylaxis and organ injuries which require prompt and continued medical treatment. Venom toxins are capable of imparting its effect to almost all the tissues it interacts with and through various mechanisms. In this review, it is intended to limit to the nephrotoxic effects of venom toxins from few medically detrimental species, namely, hymenoptera (bees, wasps, and ants), spiders, scorpions, caterpillars, centipedes, jellyfish, and snakes. The pathophysiology of venom-induced nephrotoxicity under the two broad categories of altered renal hemodynamics and direct renal toxicity is discussed, which incorporates various mechanisms such as anaphylaxis, coagulation cascade, the kinins, and heme toxicity that ultimately lead to kidney injury.