Researchers are always seeking new compounds to study, especially compounds that can assist in the field of pain management. Venom from many insects are potential targets for study. Two have recently been found to have properties that may be able to be developed into treatments for pain. One is from the green velvet tarantula spiders in Peru, which produce the toxic peptide Pro Tx-11 that inhibits sodium channels on membranes. The other is diluted bee venom, which has potential options in the area of neuropathic pain.

Spider and Bee Benefits

Tarantula venom contains Pro Tx-11 peptide that binds to the pain receptor within the membrane of neuronal cells. The exact receptor on the membrane that the toxic peptide binds to and how it works is still unknown. The research is being done in Australia. At this time, it has potential to be a non-addictive painkiller. This compound is in the early phases of study, and it is likely to be 10 years before we have a chance of seeing this clinically.

Bee venom has been used in traditional Eastern medicine. In acupuncture, bee venom has been used for treatment of chronic pain. Research in rodents has shown diluted bee venom that could block certain types of pain. The models studied so far are neuropathic pain from spinal cord injury (SCI). Acupuncture treatment with bee venom affected glia, astrocyte, and microglia activation. The effect of the bee venom was a reduced amount of neuropathic pain in the rodents, but isolation of the exact compound that is helpful in bee venom is not clear. Further study is necessary to even determine if there is an actual compound that may be developed into a treatment for pain.

Plant and animal toxins often affect the nervous system as their mechanism of action on humans. Since they have interactions with the nerves already, they have become natural compounds to examine in the search for novel approaches to treat pain. Many of the compounds are quite complex and often not well understood. They have become natural targets to examine further. Hopefully as research progresses over time, better understanding of pain will happen and new nonaddictive compounds will be found to treat pain.