This investigation was performed on 24 mature male rats to clarify the physiological effect of date wasp venom on spontaneous activity of albino rats.
Moreover, the effect of date wasp venom on human blood haemolysis, total protein and essential amino acids contents were assessed.
The data led to the following conclusions:
1- Intraperitoneal injection of date wasp venom in doses of 1,2,3 and 4 stings/100g. body weight into mature male albino rats produced significant decrease in their spontaneous activity in the three former doses reaching its maximum at 1.5 hours of injection. Thereafter, the movements began to increase and became normal 24 hours after injection. However, the latter dose (4 stings/ 100 9. body weight) produced remarkable symptoms of pain and irritability followed by strong depression and final sudden death of the rats weighing 80 g.
2. Furthermore, the data showed that date wasp venom possessed a marked haemolytic power on human blood. However, the rate of haemolysis was rather high in case of the heated venom at 56°C for 30 minutes than that of unheated venom.
3- Wasp venom treated human serum was accompanied by a graded decrement in total proteins reaching its maximal level in the dose of 6 stings. On the contrary the essential amino acids contents were increased due to the presence of protease enzymes in the venom.