Nanoparticles to treat snake bites
Nanoparticles to treat snake bites
Poisonous snake bites affect 2.5 million people worldwide each year, cause more than 100,000 deaths and leave physical and psychological scars to nearly 400,000. In this framework, a team of researchers has just published in the journal 'PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases' a new approach to treat snake bites, based on the use of nanoparticles that bind to the venom and prevent its spread through the body.
The standard treatment for snake bites consists in the administration, intravenously, of IgG class antibodies that recognize the poisons. However, these therapies must be administered quickly, and by trained health personnel, to be effective, in addition to being specific for each type of poison.
In this context, there is a need to have a treatment for snakebite that can be used in the rural environment and work against the bites of various poisonous snakes. In the study, Kenneth Shea, of the University of California (United States) and his colleagues, designed nanoparticles that join and "hijack" a series of snake venom components Elapidae, a large family of poisonous snakes that includes cobras, kraits, tiger snakes, sea serpents, coral snakes and mambas, among others.
The nanoparticles bind to the poison and prevent its spread through the body. (Photo: Shea, et al.)
The researchers tested the ability of nanoparticles to block the venom of 'Naja nigricollis' (a type of black-collar cobra) in mice that received variable doses of nanoparticles, injected into the skin. The poisonings by this snake in sub-Saharan Africa cause a serious cutaneous necrosis that can leave a permanent damage in the tissues of the victims, according to the information of 'PLOS' collected by DiCYT.
In experiments with isolated cells, it was found that nanoparticles sequester a wide range of Elapidae poisons. In addition, in collaboration with José María Gutiérrez, from the Clodomiro Picado Institute (University of Costa Rica), experiments with mice showed that injections of nanoparticles in places with venom significantly mitigated the typical necrotic effects, such as blisters and ulcers. Also, the nanoparticles administered to mice that had not received venom had no effect on the skin and did not induce systemic toxicity.
"These stable, low-cost nanoparticles have the potential to be administered subcutaneously immediately after the bite at the site of poisoning of this cobra, to stop or reduce the extent of local damage and to mitigate the systemic distribution of toxins after poisoning. ", The researchers stress. (Source: CGP / DICYT)
.
.
SOURCE LINK ERESVIRAL.COM https://www.beviral.online
Comentarios
Publicar un comentario