Arachnophobia is one of the most common fears in the world: it affects 50% of women and 10% of men on average. This phobia irrepressible would in fact be a remnant of a primitive survival instinct that orders us to flee from the danger of the potentially deadly venom.
However, this venom could be the source of the painkillers of tomorrow, if we believe a new scientific study published on Wednesday March 4 in the Bristish Journal of Pharmacology.
Chronic pain occurs when nerves affected by a specific disease send continuous signals to the brain through pain channels. They would affect one in five people in the world. However, this is a symptom that current painkillers cannot relieve effectively. In this vicious vicious circle, the Nav1.7 channels play a major role: “previous research has shown that a natural genetic mutation affecting the Nav1.7 channels makes it insensitive to the pain Explains Professor Glenn King, co-author of the study. In this sense, “blocking these Nav1.7 channels could potentially extinguish the pain”.
The hope of a new category of more effective analgesics
This is where the venom ofspider comes into play. The team of eleven Australian and American researchers analyzed the venom composition of 205 species of arachnids. Among this large sample, 82 species would have venom containing molecules that can act on these Nav1.7 channels. Specifically, the team would have identified 7 compounds including a very promising, contained in the venom of a tarantula (Haplopelma doriae). More powerful than the others, this compound is said to be very stable thermally, biologically and chemically, a major advantage in becoming a perfect pain medication.
“According to one estimate, there are 9 million compounds from spider venom, and only 0.01% of this pharmacological extent has already been explored,” said Dr. Julie Klaae Klint, co-author of the study. “Harnessing this natural source of new treatments offers real hope to accelerate the development of a new class of analgesics to help people with chronic pain that cannot be treated with current treatments. “
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