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2022-03-30| Technology

An Undersea Chemical Factory: Toxins from the Cone Snail As the Next Painkiller

by GeneOnline
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The cone snail is a carnivorous shell typically found in tropical marine regions. When it preys, its harpoon-like hollow teeth would inject the toxic venom, which contains the conotoxin, into the target. The venom kills the prey but it has the therapeutic potential to treat diseases. Development efforts on the venom have resulted in Prialt, a medicine for chronic pains, and a the rapid-acting insulin for diabetes. 

More recently, a research team from the University of Utah has released breaking findings showing that the somatostatin in the conotoxin is key to anesthesia and pain-killing. With the stabilizing property and specificity in somatostatin-receptors, the conotoxin becomes an ideal candidate for developing painkillers.

 

Related article: From Forbidden Drugs to Psychotropic Cures: A “Psychedelic Boom” Breaks New Ground in Treating Mental Illnesses

 

The Prey and Pain Killers

 

Cone snails are carnivorous. They have two major hunting strategies. Besides harpooning their prey and injecting them with neurotoxins, cone snails also release the venom into the water to make targets groggy, before capturing them with a mouth net.

The team named one of the special hormonal neurotoxins in the conotoxins as Consomatin Ro1. By X-ray diffraction, they found that the chemical structure of Consomatin Ro1 is similar to the painkiller octreotide, which is so-called sandostatin, on the market. “It is just like intentionally designed by the pharmacy,” said Prof. Safavi of the University of Utah. 

Octreotide, a kind of painkiller, is a structural analog to somatostatin. Somatostatin is a growth-factor inhibitor commonly found in humans and vertebrates. It can be used in the treatment of acromegaly, which is caused by the overproduction of growth factors. Among the five somatostatin- receptors in humans, Consomatin Ro1 can activate two of the receptors. 

 

The Painkillers from the Nature

 

The animal experiments showed that Consomatin Ro1 can relieve the pain on the rats like morphine. The rats would be anesthetized gradually without noticing. The researchers inferred that the cone snails may use different toxins with various durations depending on the prey. 

Due to the stable structure of the Consomatin Ro1 and various kinds of cone snails, there may be more different kinds of painkillers. In the future, the team will try to figure out the releasing mechanism and the effectiveness in painkilling and anti-inflammatory of Consomatin Ro1 when compared to the current drugs. The next-generation painkillers may yet come from nature. 

 

Written by Kathy Huang/ Translated by Pence Au

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