Centipede Venom And Neuropathy

Today's post from the-scientist.com (see link below) is another new discovery from the insect, and poisonous creature world which may be of benefit to neuropathy sufferers. This time the promising newcomer is the centipede and a component of its venom, which works on a sodium ion channel and blocks pain signals. The claim is that it is even more efficient than morphine in that respect. Certain poisonous fish, bees, snakes and other venom bearing creatures are already being investigated for this purpose and are even being mentioned in connection with killing the HIV virus. The problem with all these things is that they are generally just theories at the moment and we are years away from their being translated into efficient medicines or treatments, so don't expect products to hit the chemist's shelves soon but it's fascinating to see where researchers are looking for analgesic solutions.

Centipede Venom Tops Morphine  
By Kerry Grens | October 1, 2013

The substance targets the same ion channel that's mutated in people who don't feel pain.

WIKIMEDIA, YASUNORI KOIDE An alteration in a sodium ion channel can leave people completely indifferent to pain, making the channel an appealing target for analgesic development. In a report published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences this week (September 30), researchers characterize a newly discovered component of centipede venom that inhibits this particular sodium channel, NaV1.7, and works even better than morphine to dampen pain in rodents. “Centipedes worked out hundreds of millions of years ago the easiest way to catch prey was to paralyze them by blocking their NaV channel,” Glenn King, one of the authors of the study, told ABC. “We're just lucky that of the nine NaV channels in humans, it hit the one we were after.”

King, a researcher at the University of Queensland, said that other attempts to bind the NaV1.7 channel blocked other sodium channels and produced untoward effects. But King and his colleagues found that the venom-derived peptide was much more selective for 1.7 than for other sodium ion channels. And it showed no negative impacts on heart rate, blood pressure, or motor function. The centipede peptide was also more potent than morphine in a chemically induced pain assay in mice, and was just as effective as the narcotic in relieving pain induced by acid or heat.

Of course, a number of studies will have to validate the safety and efficacy of the drug before it could be used to treat pain in humans. Already, several venom-derived peptides have been developed for human therapy. King envisions that centipede venom could be useful in treating chronic pain. According to The Australian, it will be critical to “get the dose right” so that people could still feel a burn, for example. “But they wouldn’t have this ongoing pain, often resulting from a nerve injury or something that just hasn’t been dampened down by the brain,” King told The Australian.

http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/37737/title/Centipede-Venom-Tops-Morphine/