BioCentury
ARTICLE | Targets & Mechanisms

Black mamba takes away pain

October 18, 2012 7:00 AM UTC

A French team has identified a pair of peptides, mambalgin-1 and mambalgin-2, from black mamba venom that could be useful for treating pain.1 The peptides, which inhibit a class of acid-sensing ion channels on the surface of neurons, are licensed to Theralpha S.A.S.

Team leader Eric Lingueglia, a research director at the Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM), the Institute of Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology at Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) and the University of Nice Sophia Antipolis, said the analgesic peptides are nontoxic and are likely used by the snake to anesthetize its prey while other, toxic molecules do the killing...