Scorpions

Nowadays, more than two billion inhabitants of underdeveloped tropical and subtropical countries are at risk of being stung by scorpions. Scorpion stings annually cause 2000-3000 deaths as they can lead to the respiratory and/or cardiovascular complications. Pathogenesis of lung damage under scorpion envenomation is often comprehensive. Respiratory failure can have a cardiogenic origin, associated with venom neurotoxin action. However, some venom components can stimulate pro-inflammatory signaling cascades followed by cytokines synthesis, recruit and activate immune cells, participating in the inflammatory response in lung injury...

The coordination of hydrotris[3-(2'-furyl)pyrazol-1-yl]borate (Tp2-Fu , C21 H16 BN6 O3 ) to lanthanide(III) ions is achieved for the first time with the complex [Ln(Tp2-Fu )2 ](BPh4 )·xCH2 Cl2 (1-Ln has Ln = Ce and x = 2; 1-Dy has Ln = Dy and x = 1). This was accomplished via both hydrous (Ln = Ce) and anhydrous methods (Ln = Dy). When isolating the dysprosium analogue, the filtrate produced a second crop of crystals which were revealed to be the 1,2-borotropic-shifted product [Dy(κ4 -Tp2-Fu )(κ5 -Tp2-Fu *)](BPh4 ) (2) {Tp2-Fu * = hydrobis[3-(2'-furyl)pyrazol-1-yl][5-(2'-furyl)pyrazol-1-yl]borate}...

BACKGROUND: Prostate cancer (PCa) is becoming the most common malignancy in men worldwide. We investigated the effect of astragaloside IV combined with PESV on the gut microbiota and metabolite of PCa mice and the process of treating PCa. METHODS: Nude mice were genetically modified to develop tumors characteristic of PCa. The treatment of PCa mice involved the administration of a combination of astragaloside IV and peptides derived from scorpion venom (PESV). Feces were collected for both 16 S rDNA and metabolic analysis...

Scorpions, a group of oldest animals with wide distribution in the world, have a long history of medicinal use. Scorpio, the dried body of Buthus martensii, is a rare animal medicine mainly used for the treatment of liver diseases, spasm, and convulsions in children in China. The venom has been considered as the active substance of scorpions. However, little is known about the small molecules in the venom of scorpions. According to the articles published in recent years, scorpions contain amino acids, fatty acids, steroids, and alkaloids, which endow scorpions with antimicrobial, anticoagulant, metabolism-regulating, and antitumor activities...

In the quest for sustainable ammonia synthesis routes, biomimetic complexes have been intensively studied. Here we focus on the Peter's group Fe-nitrogenase catalyst with EPPP scorpionate ligands, and explore the effect of anchor atom selection (B, Al, Ga, N and P) and the impact of chloro substitution on the phenyl rings on nitrogen fixation. The reaction profiles of complexes with Lewis basic anchor atoms exhibited energy-demanding reduction steps, with more exergonic protonation steps compared to the smoother reaction profiles observed for catalysts with Lewis acid anchor atoms, also implying that catalyst regeneration is especially challenging for catalysts with Lewis basic anchor atoms...

Envenomation by terrestrial toxic animals is considered a serious risk to human health worldwide. Snakes, hymenopterans, spiders, and scorpions have mainly attracted the attention of medical literature. However, the relative importance of spiders has been studied only in a few countries. Here, we present the first retrospective study on the incidence of spider bites requiring hospital care in Spain, compared to bites or stings from snakes, hymenopterans, and scorpions. Using ICD9MC and ICD10 databases from the World Health Organization's International Classification of Diseases for the period 1997-2020, we quantified the cases of envenomation by spiders, compared to those by other terrestrial toxic animals, the demographic data of envenomation cases, the relative severity of spider bites, and the geographic distribution of envenomation cases...

Hemiscorpius species are distributed in Africa and Asia. Seven species of this genus have been identified in Iran of which six species have been reported from Hormozgan province. Members of this genus are the most dangerous scorpions in Iran. corpions were collected by moving stones during the day and searching at night using portable UV lights from 2011 to 2022 from different areas in Hormozgan province. Three species were identified from Hormozgan province including Hemiscorpius acanthocercus , H.enischnocela and H...

The yellow digger scorpion, Scorpio maurus , is a medically important scorpion for which little is known about its genetic diversity. Polymerase chain reaction products of 16srRNA gene fragments were generated from scorpion specimens named SmKh1 and SmKh2. These sequences showed high similarity with the only partial sequence of S. maurus isolate SCA1 large subunit ribosomal RNA gene available in the Genbank database. The drawing of the phylogeny tree showed two clusters, A and B. The two specimens (SmKh1 and SmKh2), which are placed in sub-cluster A2, were provided from Behbahan, Iran, and they have the closest relationship with the only sequence of S...

Candida albicans (C. albicans) is one of the most common opportunistic fungi worldwide, which is associated with a high mortality rate. Despite treatment, C. albicans remains the leading cause of life-threatening invasive infections. Consequently, antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are potential alternatives as antifungal agents with excellent antifungal activity. We previously reported that Css54, found in the venom of Centrurodies suffusus suffusus (C. s. suffusus) showed antibacterial activity against zoonotic bacteria...

Light-triggered dissociation of ligands forms the basis for many compounds of interest for photoactivated chemotherapy (PACT), in which medicinally active substances are released or "uncaged" from metal complexes upon illumination. Photoinduced ligand dissociation is usually irreversible, and many recent studies performed in the context of PACT focused on ruthenium(II) polypyridines and related heavy metal complexes. Herein, we report a first-row transition metal complex, in which photoinduced dissociation and spontaneous recoordination of a ligand unit occurs...

Surgical repair of acute or chronic lateral instability of the ankle may be unsuccessful in the presence of associated anterior fibulotalar ligament (AFTL) and calcaneofibular ligament (CFL) injury. This Technical Note presents an arthroscopic double-row repair technique of the AFTL associated with suture tape augmentation of the CFL. The patient is in the supine position with the ankle hanging over the edge of the surgical table. The anteromedial portal is created inside the anterior tibial tendon, and the anterolateral portal is created under arthroscopic control...

The Integrator complex can terminate RNA polymerase II (Pol II) in the promoter-proximal region of genes. Previous work has shed light on how Integrator binds to the paused elongation complex consisting of Pol II, the DRB sensitivity-inducing factor (DSIF) and the negative elongation factor (NELF) and how it cleaves the nascent RNA transcript1 , but has not explained how Integrator removes Pol II from the DNA template. Here we present three cryo-electron microscopy structures of the complete Integrator-PP2A complex in different functional states...

INTRODUCTION: Scorpionism is a public health problem, especially in tropical regions. In Brazil, the prevalence of envenomation by scorpions is high, and the average national lethality is around 0.16 percent. The Tityus serrulatus scorpion is the primary species of medical importance. However, objective tools to predict and define the severity of these envenomations are lacking. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was an observational study conducted among patients aged 0-19 years with scorpionism...

BeKm-1 is a peptide toxin from scorpion venom that blocks the pore of the potassium channel hERG (Kv 11.1) in the human heart. Although individual protein structures have been resolved, the structure of the complex between hERG and BeKm-1 is unknown. Here, we used molecular dynamics and ensemble docking, guided by previous double-mutant cycle analysis data, to obtain an in silico model of the hERG-BeKm-1 complex. Adding to the previous mutagenesis study of BeKm-1, our model uncovers the key role of residue Arg20, which forms three interactions (a salt bridge and hydrogen bonds) with the channel vestibule simultaneously...

Scorpion venoms identified as agents with anti-tumor and anti-angiogenic features. Tumor microenvironment (TME) plays a pivotal role in the process of tumorigenesis, tumor development, and polarization of M2 phenotype tumor associated macrophages (TAMs). M2 polarized cells are associated with tumor growth, invasion, and metastasis. The fractionation process was performed by gel filtration chromatography on a Sephadex G50 column. To elucidate whether scorpion venom can alter macrophage polarization, we treated interleukin (IL)-4-polarized M2 cells with isolated fractions from Mesobuthus eupeus...

Scorpionism is an increasing public health problem in the world. Although no specific methodology or product is currently available for the control of those arachnids, the use of insecticides could be an effective tool. Chlorpyrifos is one of the insecticides used, but to date, whether scorpions recognise surfaces with that insecticide and how it affects their physiology and/or biochemistry is unknown. In the present study, we observed that scorpions recognise surfaces with 0.51 and 8.59 μg/cm2 of chlorpyrifos and avoid those areas...

The ESKAPE pathogen-associated antimicrobial resistance is a global public health issue, and novel therapeutic strategies are urgently needed. The short cationic antimicrobial peptide (AMP) family represents an important subfamily of scorpion-derived AMPs, but high hemolysis and poor antimicrobial activity hinder their therapeutic application. Here, we recomposed the hydrophilic face of Ctriporin through lysine substitution. We observed non-linear correlations between the physiochemical properties of the peptides and their activities, and significant deviations regarding the changes of antimicrobial activities against different bacterial species, as well as hemolytic activity...

More recently, short peptides in scorpion venom have received much attention because of their potential for drug discovery. Although various biological effects of these short peptides have been found, their studies have been hindered by the lack of structural information especially in modifications. In this study, small peptides from scorpion venom were investigated using high-performance liquid chromatography high-resolution mass spectrometry followed by de novo sequencing. A total of 156 sequences consisting of 2~12 amino acids were temporarily identified from Buthus martensii scorpion venom...

Five peptides were isolated from the venom of the Mexican scorpion Centruroides bonito by chromatographic procedures (molecular weight sieving, ion exchange columns, and HPLC) and were denoted Cbo1 to Cbo5. The first four peptides contain 66 amino acid residues and the last one contains 65 amino acids, stabilized by four disulfide bonds, with a molecular weight spanning from about 7.5 to 7.8 kDa. Four of them are toxic to mice, and their function on human Na+ channels expressed in HEK and CHO cells was verified...

A key aspect during the development of antivenoms is the evaluation of the efficiency and security of the therapeutic molecules. In this work, we report the pharmacokinetic analysis of a neutralizing single chain antibody fragment named LR (scFv LR) where three sheep were used as a large animal model. The animals were injected through i.v. route with 2 mg of scFv LR. Blood samples were drawn every minute within the first 15 min, the sampling continues at 20, 25, 30, 45, 60, 90, 120 min, subsequently at one-hour intervals, 3, 4, 5, 6 h, two more samples at 9 and 12 h and, two more samples at 24 and 48 hours and finally at one-day intervals during 4 days...