by University of Queensland Schematic overview of the mechanism of action of the implemented snake venom proteins. Ecarin, a procoagulant snake venom protein bypasses the activation of series of clotting factors via intrinsic and extrinsic clotting pathway and directly activates prothrombin to thrombin thereby producing a fibrin blood clot. Once the clot is formed, clot...
by Gina Wadas, Johns Hopkins University Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain The blood-brain barrier is an essential and meticulous protector of the human body. This highly selective gatekeeper of interlocking endothelial cells forms tight junctions, shielding vulnerable brains cells from toxins in the bloodstream. However, this also means that the BBB blocks many compounds from entering...
With bacteria rapidly evolving resistance to our best antibiotics, scientists are searching high and low for new ones. In recent years promising drug candidates have turned up in some unexpected places, like rattlesnake venom, platypus milk, and tobacco flowers – and now, already inside the human body. Researchers from MIT and the University of Naples Federico II have found that a potent peptide...
The complex of the Nav1.4 channel from human muscle cells with the Hm-3 toxin extracted from the venom of the Heriaeus melloteei spider. (A) The interaction of Hm-3 (blue/purple) with the first voltage-sensing domain (D1) of the channel A team of Russian scientists together with foreign colleagues, reports that the venom of the crab spider...
