Vanillin as an Antidote for Box Jellyfish (Chironex fleckeri) Envenomation

The phenolic compound, vanillin was tested and found to have potential anti-toxinactivity against Chironex fleckeri toxin. Anti-toxin experiment conducted by premixing toxin and vanillin prior to intraperitoneal injection into mice showed that vanillin was able to completely neutralize the toxin in all 10 mice tested. It was also discovered that 0.5mg vanillin could rescue 7 out of the 10 mice previously envenomed with 68μg/kg of toxin. Haemolysis assay performed showed vanillin was capable of neutralizing the haemolytic effect of the toxin in a concentration-dependent fashion. The IC50 value of vanillin incubated with toxin at dilution giving 50% lysis (EC50) was determined to be 0.8mg/μg. Pharmacological studies using isolated rat aorta showed that 2μM of vanillin was able to completely reverse the contraction induced by O.lmg/ml toxin.