Bee Venom Can Improve Brain Function

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trulli1

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http://news.discovery.com/animals/bee-venom-can-improve-brain-function.html

Bee Venom Can Improve Brain Function

It sounds like witch doctor medicine, but an injection of bee venom can improve brain function, according to a new study published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.

A team of scientists from the Universities of Liege in Belgium and Bristol in the United Kingdom extracted a peptide toxin from the venom called apamin.

Apamin is a neurotoxin that blocks certain central nervous system channels.
Apamin can cause hyperexcitability, resulting in convulsions and respiratory paralysis, according to the National Library of Medicine. But hyperexcitable nerves in the brain also lead to improved learning and memory.

Injections of apamin also have been shown to improve the symptoms of myotonic muscular dystrophy, such as muscle weakness, convulsions and lack of coordination, reports ScienceDaily.

The use of peptide toxins like apamin isn't new; scientists have known for a while that certain insect venoms have the potential to treat diseases like MD.

But the mechanisms of exactly how the toxins worked has been poorly understood -- until now.

The new study pinpoints precisely where the apamin binds to particular nerve channels in the brain, and the researchers hope new drugs can be developed that mimic apamin's effects.

"Drug design depends on knowing the target," Neil Marrion, a professor in the University of Bristol's Physiology and Pharmacology department, told ScienceDaily. "Our findings have provided a new approach to designing a therapeutic agent that could help with the treatment of a number of conditions."
 
http://news.discovery.com/animals/bee-venom-can-improve-brain-function.html

Bee Venom Can Improve Brain Function

It sounds like witch doctor medicine, but an injection of bee venom can improve brain function, according to a new study published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.

A team of scientists from the Universities of Liege in Belgium and Bristol in the United Kingdom extracted a peptide toxin from the venom called apamin.

Apamin is a neurotoxin that blocks certain central nervous system channels.
Apamin can cause hyperexcitability, resulting in convulsions and respiratory paralysis, according to the National Library of Medicine. But hyperexcitable nerves in the brain also lead to improved learning and memory.

Injections of apamin also have been shown to improve the symptoms of myotonic muscular dystrophy, such as muscle weakness, convulsions and lack of coordination, reports ScienceDaily.

The use of peptide toxins like apamin isn't new; scientists have known for a while that certain insect venoms have the potential to treat diseases like MD.

But the mechanisms of exactly how the toxins worked has been poorly understood -- until now.

The new study pinpoints precisely where the apamin binds to particular nerve channels in the brain, and the researchers hope new drugs can be developed that mimic apamin's effects.

"Drug design depends on knowing the target," Neil Marrion, a professor in the University of Bristol's Physiology and Pharmacology department, told ScienceDaily. "Our findings have provided a new approach to designing a therapeutic agent that could help with the treatment of a number of conditions."

MMhhhh!!!,
Not done much for me :dupe:
I've been stung over 20 odd years but it hasn't slowed down my absent mindedness :blush5:.
Maybe my years as a radio ham has countered this (all that non ionising radiation).

John Wilkinson
 
Wow, great.!!
Back soon, just going to stick my head in the hive for an hour or so :smilielol5::smilielol5::smilielol5:
 
I have been stung, not sure what effect it had ..... can't remember what I was going to say now .....
 
Blimey, I shudder to think how stupid I'd have been if I'd never kept bees then, I'm bad enough now!!! :biggrinjester:

Then again though, surely if it made us smarter, we wouldnt be keeping bees and getting stung anyway???
 
I got 8 stings to the back of the head a few weeks ago, didn't make me feel smart at all.....
 
I got 8 stings to the back of the head a few weeks ago, didn't make me feel smart at all.....

Funny that! Smarting is one of the first effects on me :biggrinjester:

John Wilkinson
 
Certainly works with me. Thought I'd be clever once and just tuck my veil in under my fleece. Bee found its way through and the ensuing sting with my accompianied waggle-dance led me to far greater wisdom going forward.
 
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