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A tiny snail may offer an alternative to opioids for pain relief. Scientists at the University of Utah have found a compound that blocks pain by targeting a pathway not associated with opioids. Research in rodents indicates that the benefits continue long after the compound have cleared the body. The findings were reported online in the February 20 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The opioid crisis has reached epidemic proportions. Opioids is[sic] highly addictive and according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 91 Americans die every day from an opioid overdose. The medical community is in need of alternative therapies that do not rely on the opioid pathways to relieve pain.
"Nature has evolved molecules that are extremely sophisticated and can have unexpected applications," begins Baldomera Olivera, Ph.D., professor in biology at the University of Utah. "We were interested in using venoms to understand different pathways in the nervous system."
Conus regius, a small marine cone snail common to the Caribbean Sea, packs a venomous punch, capable of paralyzing and killing its prey.
In this study, the researchers found that a compound isolated from snail's venom, Rg1A, acts on a pain pathway distinct from that targeted by opioid drugs. Using rodent models, the scientists showed that α9α10 nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChR) functions as a pain pathway receptor and that RgIA4 is an effective compound to block this receptor. The pathway adds to a small number of nonopioid-based pathways that could be further developed to treat chronic pain.
Interestingly, the duration of the pain relief is long, greatly outlasting the presence of the compound in the animal's system.
The compound works its way through the body in 4 hours, but the scientists found the beneficial effects lingered. "We found that the compound was still working 72 hours after the injection, still preventing pain," said J. Michael McIntosh, M.D., professor of psychiatry at the University of Utah Health Sciences. The duration of the outcome may suggest that the snail compound has a restorative effect on some components of the nervous system.
"What is particularly exciting about these results is the aspect of prevention," said McIntosh. "Once chronic pain has developed, it is difficult to treat. This compound offers a potential new pathway to prevent pain from developing in the first place and offer a new therapy to patients who have run out of options."
The researchers will continue to the next step of pre-clinical testing to investigate the safety and effectiveness of a new drug therapy.
Journal Reference:
Inhibition of α9α10 nicotinic acetylcholine receptors prevents chemotherapy-induced neuropathic pain, PNAS, www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1621433114
Related Articles:
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2016-08-scientists-safe-non-addictive-opioid-analgesic.html
(Score: 2) by ese002 on Tuesday February 21 2017, @08:58PM
Side effects, toxicity, addiction, manufacturability. Having an alternate to opioids is a very good thing but this is early research. It is going to be a while, if ever, before you get a bottle of snail venom extract from your local pharmacy.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 21 2017, @09:15PM
More likely a 25 year prison sentence for possessing a controlled substance in form of the snail or its venom.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Booga1 on Tuesday February 21 2017, @09:15PM
I heard about snail venom being the next big thing for pain relief at least ten years ago. It's "been a while" already. However, they really should get it into pill form. Injections are going to be a sticking point for some.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Azuma Hazuki on Tuesday February 21 2017, @09:26PM
I'd be worried about receptor overgrowth, mostly, like what happens with some drugs. Anything potent enough to exhibit an inhibitory effect three freaking days *after* its metabolites are cleared probably makes the body upregulate and produce new receptors like mad to handle the influx; what happens once the drug is withdrawn? And a quick gander at Ye Olde Wikie for "nicotinic receptors" shows that 1) these things are all over the place and 2) they are involved in a LOT of low-level bodily processes.
The saving grace here is that these conotoxin derivatives seem to be very, very receptor-specific, but we still need to do long-term studies on the stuff...
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by q.kontinuum on Wednesday February 22 2017, @12:59PM
we still need to do long-term studies on the stuff...
Well, that's why god designed all the helpful animals for us as test objects, right? Some of them are so close, it even fooled people in believing we "evolved" together ;-)
(Sorry, I just could not resist to impersonate a pro-science creationist.)
Registered IRC nick on chat.soylentnews.org: qkontinuum
(Score: 2) by Bobs on Tuesday February 21 2017, @10:01PM
It is going to be a while, if ever, before you get a bottle of snail venom extract from your local pharmacy.
But you can get the homeopathic version next week!
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday February 21 2017, @10:54PM
Can't you get that from your water tap right now and just put the appropriate label on it?
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: 2) by Scruffy Beard 2 on Wednesday February 22 2017, @12:11AM
Some homeopathic remedies actually have trace active ingredients:
FDA: Homeopathic teething gels may have killed 10 babies, sickened 400 [arstechnica.com]
(Soylent news covered it, but I was not able to find the search bar)
The parent may have been a more direct reference to this:
Our Story [zicam.com].
In my quick searching, I was not able to find an explicit reference: but, IIRC, the zinc that made up something like ~10% of the product was not officially declared an active ingredient. In case you don't recall the story: the FDA issued a recall [fda.gov] after 130 people lost their sense of smell.