[ad_1]
The chemist Ángel Ananda Pérez, of the National University of Colombia (UN), conducted a study and discovered that lionfish venom contains active substances that can reduce cancer cells.
The specialist explained that the fish poison extract in cervical cancer cells decreased the cell population by 26%, in colon cancer by 44%, in the bad by 52% and in the neurons of the hippocampus there was a neurotoxic effect in 59% of cases. cells.
"To determine whether there was a carcinogenic activity in the venom compounds, we used bad, prostate and colon cancer cells, among others, and found that the only cell line that was not inhibited by the poison was the prostate, "he says.
He explains that the collection of poison was made from 25 live fish from the Taganga area of Santa Marta, a place in Colombia, where this species is clbadified as invasive and therefore the government favors its use for research. medical and chemical or for the treatment of diseases due to toxins from its venom.
active components in the venom of this species, but they are rare compared to similar surveys of terrestrial animals, the researcher said in a statement released by the University.
He reported that some studies carried out on other species of fish, such as spotted scaofagogue or scorpion fish, cardiovascular effects, neuromuscular, inflammatory and cytotoxic antibacterials, among others.
"I wanted to corroborate the protein differences in the enzymes or the biological activity of this fish compared to other studies. As a result, I found lectins, proteins that are usually found in snake venoms
"Some of them have the ability to recognize certain antigens in cancer cells, which also serve to identify diseases.
In his experience, he pointed out that the process of discovering this species in the reefs is very complicated because they can reach a depth of 20 meters and generally hide very well.
He added that marine poison is heat-labile because it can degrade with changes in temperature.
To extract the venom, he explains that the fish were submerged and sedated, and once anesthetized, they are kept at -20 ° C for 30 minutes. the head and the poisonous apparatus, which includes the dorsal, bad and pelvic spines.
"When we extract it, we quantify the amount of protein that has the poison, because in this case what we are interested in are the compounds of protein origin," he revealed.
Then they performed several tests for cancer and hemolytic activity, that is to say that breaks erythrocytes different types of animals; At this point, the poison components have been separated by chromatography, which includes the pbadage of poison through resin columns.
"This may be the first preliminary study of fish poison, but we should go further in studying compounds from new inhibition tests," he said.
Source: Notimex / doh / Photo: archive
[ad_2]
Source link
