Scorpions, which have eight legs and a poisonous stinger, can be very dangerous to humans. But researchers have recently discovered that they may also hold the key to treating developmental problems in children whose mothers drank alcohol during pregnancy.
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Indeed, a new study has found that a new drug made from scorpion venom was able to reverse motor deficits in mice with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD). The latter are caused by the alcohol consumption of pregnant mothers and are characterized by learning difficulties, leading to cognitive, intellectual and motor deficits.
In humans, 119,000 children are born each year in the world with this pathology. Lack of motor skill development, in particular, is one of the first signs of a problem noticed by parents and caregivers.
The research was conducted by a team from Children’s National Hospital, led by Kazue Hashimoto-Torii, MD, who is the principal investigator of the Center for Neuroscience Research and has been studying this subject for years as part of a series of studies. His team was able to pinpoint the molecular changes responsible for developmental delays by focusing on pregnant mouse fetuses that were exposed to alcohol on days 16 and 17 of their embryonic life.
As the press release explains, this is when brain cells develop primarily in the upper cortex, the part of the brain responsible for motor skills.
During two examinations carried out 30 days after birth, these baby mice showed severe deficiencies in the motor skills of large and small muscles. By looking for the differences at the molecular level, the scientists were able to determine that exposure of the fetus to alcohol activated a process known as “heat shock”. It allows cells to produce protective proteins, but randomly in some cells rather than consistently in all cells.
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A medicine made from scorpion venom
The researchers followed the diving neurons precisely, spotting differences in 93 genes. One of them, known as Kcnn2, was clearly overexpressed in cells that produced so-called “heat shock” proteins. This gene is responsible for the functioning of the potassium channel, itself activated by calcium and associated with learning and memory. To remedy this, scientists tested Tamapin, a drug that blocks this channel. It is derived from the venom of Indian red scorpions. The drug helped bring the cell patterns back to normal. For their part, the baby mice also showed a marked improvement in their muscle motor skills.
To see how this drug can help human babies, Hashimoto-Torii and his colleagues created a biotech company. “Usually researchers looking for the molecular mechanisms behind diseases stop there, but we want to move forward to have a real impact on public health. We really want to give patients hope for a better life by addressing the neurodevelopmental issues caused by FASD” she said.
Awesome, isn’t it?
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