Some arachnidan peptides with potential medical application

• 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
• Subjects: arachnidan toxins; pain; epilepsy; cardiovascular effect; priapism; erectile function; scorpion; spider; Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Toxicology. Poisons; RA1190-1270; Zoology; QL1-991; Arctic
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1590/S1678-91992010000100004; https://doaj.org/article/3481546bc5d64679851f3a9670a7bc90

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.