Características de los venenos de escorpiones
A scorpion uses its venom to capture its prey, or as a defense system when it feels threatened. This substance is an apocrine secretion, which is violently ejected by the stinger located in the metasoma of the scorpion, which a lso houses the glands responsible for producing it and a holl...
Guardado en:
| Autores principales: | , , |
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| Formato: | Working Paper |
| Lenguaje: | Español |
| Publicado: |
Universidad de Belgrano. Red Latinoamericana de Cooperación Universitaria. RLCU
2013
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| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | http://repositorio.ub.edu.ar/handle/123456789/1953 |
| Aporte de: |
| Sumario: | A scorpion uses its venom to capture its prey, or as a defense system when it feels
threatened. This substance is an apocrine secretion, which is violently ejected by
the stinger located in the metasoma of the scorpion, which a lso houses the glands
responsible for producing it and a hollow spine which provides its venom. As for
the composition, the venom has about 80 toxins, characterized by being low
molecular weight peptides that recognize ion channels and modify the cellular
excitability that may or may not cause toxicity in mammals. Some peptides
characterized from scorpion venoms have been classified into three groups: short-chain neurotoxins from 30 to 40 amino acids, medium chain from 60 to 70 amino
acids and long chain. Medium-chain neurotoxins are those with greater medical
importance because they affect mammals, distinguishing two classes, alpha and
beta, according to their pharmacological function of Na + channels. The alpha type
have been isolated from the venom of scorpions of the Middle East and North
Africa and the beta-type scorpion in North and South America. There are also
peptides that are harmless to mammals, but are harmful to crustaceans, spiders
and insects, for example the AHIT1 excitatory toxins, BjTl1 y Lqq Tl1, which
produce paralysis on the Sarcophaga falculatelarva. Thus demonstrated that
scorpion toxins are selective for insects and may be candidates for the preparation
of various biological control products. |
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