[3] Venom of the many-banded krait began to be studied by Chuan-Chiung Chang and Chen-Yuan Lee of the National Taiwan University in the 1950s;[4] however, it was not until 1963 that its components were separated and isolated.
[5] They discovered that this venom consisted of a mixture of individual toxins that act at different sites and receptors to modulate neurotransmission.
Additionally, snake and krait bites and envenomation cause significant morbidity; understanding the mechanism by which bungarotoxins work can improve treatment options in such situations.
Symptoms of envenomation include shortness of breath, weakness or paralysis, difficulty swallowing and skin damage at the bite site.
[7] Symptoms can be worse or progress faster in children, and in severe cases can result in limb amputations, prolonged paralysis, permanent deficits or death.
[9] While all α-neurotoxins of the three-finger family will act on muscle nAchR, these differences in structure determine selectivity of the toxin for its receptor as well as affinity and dissociation.