scorpion venom
The scorpion’s venom is a type of neurotoxin. “Neuro” means nervous system and “toxin” means poison, so a neurotoxin is a poison that attacks
A placebo is a common tool used by researchers who want to test how well a medication works. A placebo looks like medicine, but it is neutral — which means it has no chemical effect on the person. Researchers use a placebo so that people who participate in a study don’t know if they’ve received the experimental medicine.
In fact, typically even the doctors who give the medicine don’t know if they’re giving a placebo or the real medicine.At the end of a study, since all the participants receive a similar-looking treatment, the researchers can see if the people who got the medication did better or worse than those who got the placebo.
In the Arizona bark scorpion study, eight children were given the antivenom. After only one hour, all signs of the scorpion venom were gone from their bodies. They all recovered completely within four hours of treatment. Of the seven children who received the placebo, only one recovered in four hours. That child was the oldest and heaviest participant in the study. The rest of the children required more time and more sedatives. All eventually recovered, and none of the children died.
Scorpion Venom May Help Reverse RA Symptoms
Yes, venom from scorpions sounds scary – but a new study shows that it could also scare away rheumatoid arthritis symptoms.
Rats and scorpions may sound like the stuff of nightmares for some people, but a new study shows that scorpion venom may actually improve rheumatoid arthritis symptoms, at least in rats.
scorpion venom
No one knows what causes rheumatoid arthritis (RA) or how to cure it. But studies like this could potentially offer researchers some insight into how the disease behaves and, perhaps eventually, how best to treat it.
The study, published in the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, was led by Christine Beeton, PhD, an immunologist at Baylor College of Medicine, as well as other researchers.
The scientists said they essentially discovered that one of the hundreds of components in scorpion venom can reduce the severity of RA in these animal models, even reversing damage from the disease in some cases.
There were also fewer side effects than what typically results from other kinds of RA treatments.
“Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease — one in which the immune system attacks its own body. In this case, it affects the joints,” Beeton said in a statement. “Cells called fibroblast-like synoviocytes (FLS) play a major role in the disease. As they grow and move from joint to joint, they secrete products that damage the joints and attract immune cells that cause inflammation and pain. As damage progresses, the joints become enlarged and are unable to move.
“In previous work, we identified a potassium channel on FLS of patients with rheumatoid arthritis and found that the channel was very important for the development of the disease,” Beeton added. “We wanted to find a way to block the channel to stop the cells damaging the joints.
