The Conus regius is a sea snail in the Caribbean Sea. <\/p>\n
UTAH, USA, Thursday February 23, 2017 The venom of a small snail native to the Caribbean could be used to develop a completely new way of treating chronic pain, according to researchers. <\/p>\n
The venom of the Conus regius sea snail, which is normally used to paralyse or kill the snails prey, also contains a compound that seems to offer long-lasting pain relief. <\/p>\n
The compound was still working and still blocking pain three days after being administered in experiments with rats. <\/p>\n
According to the American research team, the findings meant that it may be possible to create a new pain therapy for patients who had exhausted all other options. <\/p>\n
Opioids, which are the medicines most commonly used to treat moderate to severe pain, work by reducing the perception of pain. <\/p>\n
They do this by attaching to specific proteins in the brain and organs of the body, called opioid receptors. <\/p>\n
But a compound known as Rg1A works in a different way using a new pathway. <\/p>\n
Scientists from the University of Utah, writing in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, said the compound appeared to have a beneficial effect on parts of the nervous system. <\/p>\n
This, in turn, could open the door to new opportunities to treat pain, they said. <\/p>\n
The researchers added that drugs that worked in this way could reduce the use of opioids, such as morphine, which are addictive and can cause a number of serious side-effects. <\/p>\n
According to J Michael McIntosh, professor of psychiatry at the University of Utah Health Sciences: What is particularly exciting about these results is the aspect of prevention. <\/p>\n
Once chronic pain has developed, it is difficult to treat, he explained. <\/p>\n
This compound offers a potential new pathway to prevent pain from developing in the first place and offers a new therapy to patients who have run out of options. <\/p>\n
In research on rats, scientists found that pain was experienced by those animals treated with a chemotherapy drug that caused them to be hypersensitive to cold and touch. Those also treated with the snail compound did not experience pain and the relief was long lasting, moreover. <\/p>\n
We found that the compound was still working 72 hours after the injection, still preventing pain, Professor McIntosh said. <\/p>\n
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