was incubated with various doses of venom, and the venom
LD50 was determined. In these conditions, venom LD50
by the ip route was 169 mg (95% confidence limits:
131–219 mg). When similar experiments were performed
using the iv route, LD50 of venom preincubated with
500 mM batimastat was significantly increased when
compared with LD50 of venom alone to a value of
76 mg (95% confidence limits: 61–96 mg). On the other
hand, when three LD50s of venom were used as
challenge dose, batimastat did not inhibit lethality even
at a concentration of 500 mM. However, there was a
marked dose-dependent delay in the time of death of
mice receiving venom and batimastat, as compared
with mice receiving only venom (Fig. 1). As shown in
Fig. 2, mice injected iv with three LD50s of venom alone
died within 5 min, whereas only three out of four mice
injected with three LD50s of venom and 500 mM
batimastat died, deaths occurring at later time intervals.
Thus, even if lethality was not abrogated at this and
higher venom doses, the time of death was significantly
prolonged. Batimastat alone did not induce lethality nor
any evidence of systemic toxicity at doses up to 500 mM
by both ip and iv routes.