Poison of Sea Snail Can Potentially Treat Cancer, Back Injuries and Researchers Tell Us How

For her to study sea snails, Bea Ramiro needed to collect a lot of the said creatures of the same species. Then, once the fisherman had reeled in the net and the snails had been split into groups according to species, she only had enough of the snail species known as Conus rolani to conduct a proper study.

As specified in a ScienceBlog article, Ramiro started studying the said sea snail species more or less, by chance. Along with two fishermen, she collected the material in the waters in 2018, off the Philippine island of Cebu.

Scientists knew that poison from the sea snail species Conus magus could be used as a pain reliever during that time. It can function as a replacement for morphine and opioids, and some patients are experiencing lesser side effects. Consequently, Ramiro said she was hoping she could discover a new snail species whose poison had "a similar or possibly even better effect."

Interesting Discovery

Now, Ramiro expressed joy that this large white and brown snail, six or seven centimeters long, was the only species left. New research from the University of Copenhagen to which she has contributed presents that poison from Conus rolani can work as a painkiller.

Authors of the study published in ScienceAdvances have discovered that a specific substance from the poison can block out pain in mice for an even more prolonged time than morphine.

Associate Professor Helena Safavi, who has led the research, said they had found a so-called toxin that's blocking out pain in a different way compared to the well-known drug such as morphine, and hopefully, this will allow them "to avoid some of the most impairing effects" of morphine on humans.

Sea Snail-Based Medicine

At present, medicine based on the sea snail species Conus magus is already available in the market to treat certain conditions like cancer and back injuries, among others.

However, it is costly and challenging to work with as it needs to be injected into the central nervous system through a spinal implant.

Therefore, even though there's already a drug based on a sea snail for which some people involve lesser side effects than opioids and morphine, it is not ideal because of the cost and circumstances.

Therefore, the study investigators behind this new research are hoping the finding of the effect of poison from Conus rolani can help them develop a more efficient painkiller.

Sea Snail Poison Resembling a 'Somatostatin'

From the Department of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Copenhagen, Safavi explained there is a need for a better substitute for people who are in "great pain," a substitute that's less addictive compared to opioids and morphine.

According to a similar Newswise report, when the study investigators had collected the sea snails in the Philippines and watched their unique hunting tactics in an aquarium, they were able to obtain the poison and separated the different components to find out which had interesting effects on mice.

In addition, they were able to characterize and produce "synthetic twins" for the over a hundred toxins discovered in the poison of the sea nail. Subsequently, the researchers X-rayed the one poison that exhibited potential.

Safavi said they could see that the toxin's structure from the poison of the sea snail resembled a "somatostatin," a hormone discovered in the human body controlling the sensation of pain. This then suggested, continued the lead author, that the toxin might have a similar controlling effect.

Related information about the Conus magus snail species is shown on Deep Look's YouTube video below:

Check out more news and information on Snails on Science Times.