Some arachnidan peptides with potential medical application

The search for new active drugs that can alleviate or cure different diseases is a constant challenge to researchers in the biological area and to the pharmaceutical industry. Historically, research has focused on the study of substances from plants. More recently, however, animal venoms have been a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Venomous Animals and Toxins including Tropical Diseases
Main Authors: ME De Lima, MH Borges, T Verano-Braga, FS Torres, GG Montandon, FL Cardoso, KDBA Peixoto, HC Cardoso-Jr, MT Benelli
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: SciELO 2010
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Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1590/S1678-91992010000100004
https://doaj.org/article/3481546bc5d64679851f3a9670a7bc90
Description
Summary:The search for new active drugs that can alleviate or cure different diseases is a constant challenge to researchers in the biological area and to the pharmaceutical industry. Historically, research has focused on the study of substances from plants. More recently, however, animal venoms have been attracting attention and studies have been successful in addressing treatment of accidents. Furthermore, venoms and their toxins have been considered good tools for prospecting for new active drugs or models for new therapeutic drugs. In this review, we discuss some possibilities of using different toxins, especially those from arachnid venoms, which have shown some potential application in diseases involving pain, hypertension, epilepsy and erectile dysfunction. A new generation of drugs is likely to emerge from peptides, including those found in animal venoms.