In addition, the hypothesis unified many experimental observations collected in previous years, such as the dissociation between catalytic activity and toxicity demonstrated by chemical modification experiments, as well as the role of ‘chaperone’ subunits in some neurotoxic PLA2s. In this publication, after presenting their model, the authors reviewed a large body of findings in the light of this unifying concept and analyzed the various pharmacological effects exhibited by venom PLA2s. This seminal work paved the way for the search of PLA2 ‘acceptors’ in target cells and for structure–function studies which later on identified the ‘pharmacological sites’ in various toxic PLA2s from snake venoms.