Tissue pathology induced by snake venoms: how to understand a complex pattern of alterations from a systems biology perspective?

The study of snake venom-induced local tissue pathology has been predominantly based on experimental designs and concepts that view tissue alterations from a dichotomous, homogeneous and reductionist perspective. Experimental observations, however, indicate that cells and extracellular matrix are affected by venoms and toxins in a complex and heterogeneous fashion, and that the effect of whole venoms in whole organisms cannot be properly assessed by studying only the action of isolated toxins in isolated systems. It is proposed that a novel conceptual and methodological frame is necessary to better understand the complexity of these pathological alterations from a holistic, systems biology perspective.