摘要：The stonefish (Synanceia verrucosa) is one of the most dangerous marine organisms due to its life- threatening venom that might negatively affect many tissues in living organisms such as liver and kidney tissues. As an aim to spot Synanceia verrucosa for future research and target the beach tourists to take precautions not get envenomated by stonefish in Aqaba' s water, here we investigated the effect of stone- fish crude venom on kidney tissues of Balb/c mice. The approximate LD_(50) determination, histological analysis, lipid peroxidation (LPO) assay, alanine aminotransferase (ALT) assay, and gamma-glu- tamyltransferase (GGT) assay were statistically analyzed based on ANOVA and presented as means ± S.D. Statistical significance considered at a p-value of 0.05 or less. The approximate LD_(50) of the extracted toxin was 0.107 mg toxin/kg mouse body weight, and death occurred after 3:30 h of venom injection. As a lipid peroxidation product, the malo- naldehyde (MDA) concentration after intramuscular injection (i.m) injection of stonefish venom increased about two-fold compared to the control group. Envenomated Balb/c mice showed a significant increase in ALT activity values. An increase in GGT activities was observed in the mice kidneys after i.m injection of stonefish venom. Histological analysis for the kidneys of the envenomated groups showed areas of hemorrhage, degeneration in tubules, cloudy swelling (glomerulus) and some cellular proliferation. Pathological changes in kidney seemed to be time dependent. These results suggest a nephrotoxic action of Synanceia verrucosa venom involving significant morphologic and functional changes. Future nephrotoxic on human subjects is recommended. The suggested fish model used in this research (Synanceia Verrucosa) is not listed as "protected" species in the Gulf of Aqaba. In this framework, the sampling activities on animals were conducted after taking the required permissions from public authorities and in agreement with the animal care and use legislation at the Marine Science Station (MSS) in the Gulf of Aqaba in Jordan.
