New and Improved Deadly Snail Venom 52
SoyChemist writes "In 2004, the FDA approved the cone snail venom ziconotide (Prialt) for the treatment of chronic pain. It is only used for severe cases because it must be injected directly into the spinal column. This month, researchers from the University of Utah have reported the discovery of a new snail venom with a completely different amino acid sequence. Because it very selectively attaches to and blocks nerve signals by binding to a particular type of acetylcholine receptor without causing any collateral damage, the newly discovered venom could also become a fantastic medical tool."
Cone snails (Score:5, Interesting)
Some years ago, I spent a bit of time in Toto Olivera's [utah.edu] lab (the guy who pioneered all of the conotoxin research) and it was amazing to watch these snails follow, track and eventually harpoon and eat fish in the aquarium. It turns out that the poison these snails use is a complex cocktail of peptides and small molecules that act on a variety of protein channels with implications for everything from the pain mentioned in the article to anesthesia to anti-convulsants.
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Yes, indeed! I lived in Hawaii for several years, was a SCUBA-diving shell collector and kept two aquaria--one with Textile cones (a molluscivore, i.e., eats other snails) and one with Striated cones (a piscivore). (Had to keep 'em apart, for obvious reasons.)
One Striated cone in my aquarium eventually learned that it was in a closed area. Normally, these fish-killers 'spear' their food and hold on to the barbed, radular tooth (through which the vemon
Mixed news (Score:2)
The good news is that we are going to stick a six inch needle into your spine.
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Re:Works faster than nerves conduct? (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Works faster than nerves conduct? (Score:5, Interesting)
[about the poison on the darts in their guns]
Eddie Carr: The most powerful neurotoxin in the world. It works faster than the nerve conduction velocity, which means the animal's down before it actually feels the - P! - prick of the dart.
Dr. Ian Malcolm: Is there an antidote?
Eddie Carr: What, like if you shot yourself in the foot? Don't do that, you would be dead before you even knew you had an accident.
According to this article http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fc
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Well, it could still be faster than a _snail's_ nerve conduction.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cone_snail#Danger_to_ humans [wikipedia.org]
Anyway, I find it unlikely that a neurotoxin would kill before you can feel it seeing that the cause of death is usually failure of the respiratory system or cardiac arrest. So basically, depending on the dose it might hurt about as much as being chocked to death or having a fatal heart attack. For obvious reasons it is hard to determine how much a
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Another consideration is complex organisms don't die evenly it's not like turning off
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What you need is turning _on_ a light switch of a very very very bright light.
You @ ground zero + nuke = die very evenly.
You might leave a shadow mark on some rock...
The dying process should be about as painless as it gets.
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There is some truth to this. In many cases, victims of these snails don't realize that they've been stung. However, this has nothing to do with the poison, but with the injury being really minor.
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Deadly? (Score:2)
licking snails instead of toads (Score:2)
Deadly ? (Score:2)
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--LOLSpider
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He decided to get some fast wheels to make up the difference. After shopping around a while, he decided that the Datson 240-Z was the car to get. So the snail goes to the nearest Datsun dealer and says he wants to buy the 240-Z, but he wants it repainted "240-S".
The dealer asks, "Why 'S'?"
The snail replies, "'S' stands for snail. I want everybody who sees me roaring past to know who's driving."
Well, the dealer doesn't want to
Nature Vs Lab (Score:2)
The she
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"Look, Zhang, I got some rhino horn here."
"Really Kwan?!? How ever did you get it?"
"It was hard work but I am manly."
"Ooooooohhhhh!"
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No, the jury's not in any sense out. It doesn't work. And therein lies the problem with traditional medical "knowledge" - for every valid remedy there are four which are pure codswallop.
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But where does the knowledge come from for the synthesis in the lab? I expect the knowledge is just circulating in smaller pharmaceutical circles now instead of in the general public. The general public no longer needs the knowledge if it's all available off the shelf and more potent.
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to put it succinctly, I'd rather pop an asprin than swallow a pound of boiled willow bark
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I'm afraid you imagine wrong, at least in a theoretical sense. Side effects (and primary effects) are determined solely by the interaction of the chemical(s) with the human body, and there's no overarching difference between synthetic and naturally occurring chemicals - when you get down to it, it's all just a bunch of quarks and electrons. It tends
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All Ha-Ha aside, I agree with you some. While I'm currently an artist for a toy company, my education is in the Social Sciences, having received a Masters in both Psychology and Sociology. While sometimes people stumbled upon solid science (ie. aspirin) that works, I think many of the so called "folk cures" call upon the placebo effect more so than a solid scientific basis. If
Maybe they can use a nictine derivative for this? (Score:2)
(Yes, I'm being sarcastic and dismissive.)
Ducks on a Plane!! (Score:1)
ACH Receptor blockers have a lot of potentials (Score:4, Interesting)
The most famous ACH receptor blocker is atropine (a poison itself derived originally from Atropa belladonna). This particular characteristic of atropine is why it is used to treat poisoning of several classes of poisons including Cholinesterase inhibitors (which include all current forms of chemical weapon nerve agents and a number of pesticides as well), muscarine (such as from certain forms of mushroom poisoning, f. ex. aminita muscaria) and the like.
Of course anything that touches the ACH cycle in the nerve is likely to be potentially deadly...
petsmart (Score:1)
I would like to try this. (Score:2, Interesting)
The break was repaired by spinal fusion and titanium hardware but I got ZERO pain relief from the surgery.
If anyone else had to live with the pain I live with, they would commit suicide before the end of the first day.
My surgeon told me to "just get over it".. I'm now at the point that I would gladly allow a doctor to severe the nerves so that I would lose all feeling from my neck down. Even if it left me paralyzed it would be worth it, j
Uncyclopedia.org (Score:1)
-Badger badger badger on Snails
when will they start finding the cause (Score:1)