Vespa tropica venom suppresses lipopolysaccharide-mediated secretion of pro-inflammatory cyto-chemokines by abrogating nuclear factor-κ B activation in microglia

The present study was aimed to evaluate the anti-inflammatory potentials of Vespa tropica (VT) venom and its isolated peptides. Effects of whole venom and its two peptides (Vt1512 and Vt1386) on lipopolysaccharide (LPS) challenged BV-2 murine microglial cells was evaluated. Mouse microglial cell line, BV-2 and crude venom extract as well as purified peptides from VT along with LPS from Salmonella enterica were used for the studies. BV-2 cells were treated with 500 ng/ml of LPS and different doses of crude wasp venom as well as purified peptides. We used immunoblotting, cytokine bead arrays and fluorescence activated cell sorter (FACS) to evaluate the levels of various proteins, cytokines and reactive oxygen species (ROS). Our studies suggest that treatment with whole venom significantly reduces oxidative stress and LPS-stimulated activation of microglia. Also, purified peptides from crude venom exhibited potential anti-inflammatory properties. Further, whole venom was found to be targeting Akt and p38 MAPK pathways, leading to suppressed NF-kappa B phosphorylation in LPS challenged BV-2 cells. VT venom possesses anti-inflammatory properties and can be further explored for their therapeutic potential in treating various inflammatory conditions of the central nervous system (CNS).