Against the often fatal sting of the Brazilian yellow scorpion, a common anti-inflammatory would be effective. The tests in mice have proved conclusive.
These shelled critters make more than one shiver. Their sting too. If the scorpion is not feared enough in France, this is not the case in all regions of the world. The species that has taken up residence in Brazil is particularly virulent. Her name : Tityus serrulatus. Each year, it is responsible for 3,000 deaths. Researchers in Sao Paulo (Brazil) may have found an antidote to the venom of this arachnid. It is a common nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug, they explain in Nature Communications.
3,000 annual deaths
The Brazilian yellow scorpion stings more than a million people every year. Its attack is very violent since it causes, in addition to local pain, a failure of several organs, cardiogenic shock and pulmonary edema. The beast is so powerful that even the anti-venom seems weak: not only the protection conferred is partial… but it can also cause an anaphylactic shock.
So far, doctors have been relatively helpless in the face of the Brazilian yellow scorpion, responsible for 3,000 annual deaths. And for good reason: they still do not know the mechanism of action of the venom. This is what the authors of this publication set out to discover.
Block inflammation
The team used several groups of mice that they inoculated with the venom of the Tityus serrulatus. The experiment made it possible to observe precisely the evolution of the infection. First, the scorpion venom induces a powerful inflammatory reaction located in the lungs. This results in pulmonary edema which causes death from suffocation.
But not all mice develop this clinical picture. Some manage to survive the lethal dose. These rodents have a peculiarity: they have a deficiency in proteins triggering inflammation, or in enzymes producing molecules that will increase inflammation.
In non-deficient mice, administration of indomethacin – a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug that blocks prostaglandin synthesis – evades fatal symptoms. If these results must be confirmed in humans, “they open up new avenues in research,” say the authors.
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