Spider venom consists of pain killing chemical compounds

[Northerner]

A latest scientific study suggests that spider venom contains about seven compounds that can be used as painkillers. Researchers at Australia’s University of Queensland investigated several chemicals in spider venom and discovered that some of them have the ability to stop the first step that passes pain signals to the brain. Their work was published on Thursday in the British Journal of Pharmacology.

The study focused on the 45,000 species of spiders, many of which kill their prey with venoms that contain hundreds and even thousands of protein molecules, some of which block nerve activity. The scientists focused on 206 species of spider and searched for molecules in the venom that block nerve activity, particular via so-called “Nav1.7 channels”. They said that this new information would help in development of new class of effectual painkillers.

http://diabetesinsider.com/spider-venom-consists-pain-killing-chemical-compounds/38267

There are 45,000 species of spider? 😱

 

[KookyCat]

Yes, 45,000 AND we have venomous spiders native to the UK, which was news to me until I got bitten on the neck by one, I knew they could bite because I likes a spider but I didn't know we had poisonous ones. It came up like a golf ball, and the doctor told me there are quite a number of them here but they aren't lethal because they're so tiny. I captured the little offender in case it was a foreign invader but he wasn't so I took him back from the doctor and dropped him off in a nice leafy patch on the park 🙂