LAUSR

Prof. Reber and his team for providing further insight into Echis carinatus venom-induced tissue necrosis in their correspondence1 regarding our Nature Communications article2. We are glad that our major findings such as reduction in E. carinatus venom-induced tail injury after DNase I treatment, increased the mortality of mice when co-injected with E. carinatus venom and DNase I, function of venom DNase in toxicity, and the application of the newly developed mouse tail model to study sustained tissue necrosis have been ratified. These effects are due to the accumulation of extracellular DNA and its clearance by the DNase I treatment at the venom injected site. However, using a variety of neutropenic mouse models, the authors claim that neutrophils or neutrophils extracellular traps (NETs) do not contribute to E. carinatus sochureki, E. carinatus multisquamatus, or E. carinatus pyramidum venom-induced tissue necrosis, but the extracellular traps (ETs) derived from resident and other necrotic cells do contribute. Unlike our published article, they do not test E. carinatus carinatus (Indian saw-scaled viper) venom.