Sunday, February 21, 2010

Scorpion Venom Used to Cure Pain

Professor Michael Gurevitz and other scientists at the Tel Aviv University Department of Plant Science are investigating a new way for painkillers to work. They are going to use the natural compounds that can be found in scorpion venom. The research that has been conducted has proven that because the venom has evolved over time, it showed to be extremely effective on the body because there seams to be low side effects after use. This is only a theory that Prof. Gurevitz has made. The way the venom can help reduce pain, is that the venom found in scorpions have toxins called Peptides, which interacts with sodium channels in the muscular system and nervous system. The sodium channels conduct the pain. Scientists believe that if they can isolate the pain receptors in the channels, they can develop an even more effective painkiller than morphine. Along with people following scorpion venom as a painkiller, others have found that it is an efficient way to treat epilepsy.

The Israeli Yellow scorpion's venom works in the way that neurotoxin works. When the neurotoxins get inside the body, the they will almost instantly paralyze the prey preventing them from fleeing, and fighting back. The venom from the Israeli Yellow Scorpion is only affective on small prey, but when the venom is put inside a bigger animal, like a human, there is not as bad of an effect.

There are many dangerous things that need to be worked on right now in the new painkillers with venom in it. The scientists are dealing with the Israeli yellow scorpion which is one of the deadliest scorpions in the world. This scorpion is very poisonous. The Israeli yellow scorpion has 300 different peptides in its venom and only some of them have been researched. Many of the peptides' affects are unknown. There are also many dangers in the scorpion's toxins. Currently Prof. Gurevitz and other scientists are trying to produce these new painkillers with minimized problems of the venom's bad bioactive components.

Though this drug does have some side affects there are great things that can also come from this new pain killer. If the scientists were to successfully produce this painkiller it could solve one of the biggest problems in the medical world today. Aspirin does not help with extreme pain and morphine is an addictive drug. These new drugs would help with serious burns, bad cuts, would be a good thing to use in the military, and would be useful to people with bad injuries after earthquakes and other natural disasters. This new painkiller would work quickly, effectively, and there would be no addiction associated with the drug.







Ack:
- http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100216163341.htm?
utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29&utm_content=Netvibes
-www.wilsonsbiologylab.com
-google docs
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc13vSPrXNd4s1wnw70JNJqA-hGZRCQqGmIOLLlWY2pNsdZ826aACAwjtWtYm-gvh-lH9XQy7HR4Su8saA30ZMY3I-ZuQNi0q094HjWCep-qMiW38XxpMc6g4m-6IyUJZtWCn9QN9H-qXJ/s200/arizona_bark_scorpion.jpg
http://files.turbosquid.com/Preview/Content_2009_07_14__00_07_03/scorpio.jpg92B9A1A1-299D-40C6-BBEA7F68FD4402EF.jpgLarge.jpg
- http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/flight-international/scorpion.gif

By: Phillip Messineo, Lally Homans, and Gordon Spector
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Posted by Student at 2/21/2010 04:20:00 PM

7 comments:

  1. domMarch 4, 2010 at 4:36 PM

    It sounds kind of risky to test, but if proven right, it could be very interesting. I'm also not sure that people would be very into the idea of scorpion venom pain killers but it would be entertaining.

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  2. UnknownMarch 4, 2010 at 5:06 PM

    I think this is really cool because I always thought of scorpions as deadly animals and of having no "good" part of them. This could really come in handy for people in intense pain.

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  3. emily2014March 9, 2010 at 4:43 PM

    This seems dangerous, because I don't think we know enough information about the side-effects of the venom. But, this could prove to be a very useful and effective tool in the future.

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  4. LilyMarch 10, 2010 at 3:19 PM

    This is interesting, however, I would be too scared to use scorpion venom as a painkiller. As you stated in the article, venom is used by a scorpion to kill/paralyze its prey. There may currently be too big of a risk to use venom as a painkiller, but this study could be a foundation for future painkillers that are more effective, (and with less side affects), than the ones we have now.

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  5. cwalshMarch 17, 2010 at 8:36 AM

    Very very interesting. Would be great if it could be practically used. I would be interested to see if this could be done on the spot, for example if the U.S is fighting in a desert country and needs medicine right there. Good article.

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  6. AnonymousMarch 17, 2010 at 4:48 PM

    This is a really cool discovery and I think it will be very helpful if they can figure out a safer less risky way to use the venom as medicine. One concern I have is that there are many different scorpions that they would be extracting the venom from, so is it possible for one scorpion's venom to be stronger than another. If so then how would doctors be able to tell the maximum strength the poison can have before it is not able to be turned into medicine? There is a high risk for the patient if the doctor is unsure.

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  7. 14emile%friendsseminary.orgMarch 31, 2010 at 9:32 AM

    This is a very interesting article and if the scorpion venom does what it is believe to do, then it could become very useful in today's society.

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