Doctors Say: Deadly Spider Venom Could Ward Off Stroke Brain Damage

Ingredient in funnel web spider venom can protect cells from being destroyed by a stroke, even when given hours after the event, study shows

Doctors have stumbled on an unlikely source for a drug to ward off brain damage caused by strokes: the venom of one of the deadliest spiders in the world.

A bite from an Australian funnel web spider can kill a human in 15 minutes, but a harmless ingredient found in the venom of one species can protect brain cells from being destroyed by a stroke, even when given hours after the event, scientists say.

If the compound fares well in human trials, it could become the first drug that doctors have to protect against the devastating loss of neurons that strokes can cause.

Researchers discovered the protective molecule by chance as they sequenced the DNA of toxins in the venom of the Darling Downs funnel web spider (Hadronyche infensa) that lives in Queensland and New South Wales.

Venom from three spiders was gathered for the study after scientists trapped and “milked exhaustively” three spiders on Orchid beach, about 400km north of Brisbane.

The molecule, called Hi1a, stood out because it looked like two copies of another brain cell-protecting chemical stitched together. It was so intriguing that scientists decided to synthesise the compound and test its powers. “It proved to be even more potent,” said Glenn King at the University of Queensland’s centre for pain research.

Strokes occur when blood flow to the brain is interrupted and the brain is starved of oxygen. About 85% of strokes are caused by blockages in blood vessels in the brain, with the rest due to bleeds when vessels rupture. Approximately six million people a year die from stroke, making it the second largest cause of death worldwide after heart attacks.

When a stroke happens, the oxygen level in the brain drops. This forces the brain to burn its primary fuel, glucose, very differently. Instead of oxidising glucose for energy, the brain switches to a process called anaerobic glycolysis. The reaction releases energy to keep the brain working, but it also produces acid, which can cause brain cells to die.

In a series of studies on rats, King showed that a single small dose of the spider venom molecule protected neurons from induced strokes. The compound works by blocking what are called ion channels in cells, specifically those that respond to the onset of acidic conditions in the brain.

Reporting in the journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, King describes how administering Hi1a two hours after stroke reduced the extent of brain damage in rats by 80%. But the compound was still effective eight hours after stroke, reducing the amount of brain damage by about 65% when compared with untreated animals.

Rats that had the compound recovered far better than those that went without. “The untreated rats performed very badly after stroke. Their neurological and motor performance were terrible,” said King. But treatment with Hi1a “almost restored these functions to normal,” he added.

The researchers hope to start human trials of the compound in the next two years, but have more experiments to perform first. These will test whether the molecule works in all cases of stroke and is safe to use when blood vessels rupture in the brain, rather than become blocked. In the latest study, the compound was infused directly into the brain, but the scientists have found since that nasal deliver works too.

If trials show that the compound works, it could potentially transform the treatment of stroke patients. There are no drugs on the market that can protect the brain from stroke injuries. The best hospitals can offer are infusions of clot-busting drugs if a clot is to blame, or a surgical procedure called endovascular thrombectomy, which physically pulls the clot from the brain

Before doctors can administer clot-busting drugs, they must confirm with a brain scan that the stroke was caused by a blockage. This is because the treatment thins the blood and could make matters worse if the stroke was caused by a haemorrhage.

If Hi1a is found to be safe for people who have had with brain bleeds, it could be given to patients as soon as they reach a doctor. 

“The drug could be given in the ambulance to most stroke patients before hospital arrival, maximising the number of neurons that can be saved,” said King. “This should diminish the mortality from stroke and provide much better outcomes for those that survive as more brain function will be retained.”

 
Kate Holmes at the Stroke Association, said it was unknown whether Hi1a could be an effective treatment in humans. “We welcome any treatment that has the potential to reduce the damage caused by stroke, particularly if this can benefit people who are unable to arrive at hospital quickly,” she added. “Current treatments must be given in half this time period and it is too early for us to know if this research can offer an alternative for stroke patients. 

“We urge for stroke to be treated as an emergency. The sooner a person can get to hospital after a stroke, the sooner the right treatment can be received which can improve survival and help recovery,” she said.

Source:     The Guardian

2, 400 Babies Born With Brain Damage!!!!

Brazil declares emergency after 2,400 babies are born with brain damage, possibly due to mosquito-borne virus

The aedes aegypti mosquito at an entomology laboratory in Fort-de-France, in the French overseas department of Martinique. Brazil's Health Ministry confirmed the connection between the growing of microcephaly cases in babies born in northeast Brazil and the Zika virus. (Patrice Coppee/AFP/Getty Images)

Brazilian health authorities are sounding the alarm about a mosquito-borne virus that they believe may be the cause of thousands of infants being born with damaged brains.

The pathogen, known as Zika and first discovered in forest monkeys in Africa over 70 years ago, is the new West Nile -- a virus that causes mild symptoms in most but can lead to serious neurological complications or even death in others. Brazil's health ministry said on Nov. 28 that it had found the Zika virus in a baby with microcephaly — a rare condition in which infants are born with shrunken skulls — during an autopsy after the child died. The virus was also found in the amniotic fluid of two mothers whose babies had the condition.

"This is an unprecedented situation, unprecedented in world scientific research," the ministry said in a statement on its website, according to CNN.

Brazil is investigating more than more than 2,400 suspected cases of microcephaly and 29 deaths of infants that occurred this year. Last year the country saw only 147 cases of microcephaly.

The situation in Brazil is so overwhelming that Angela Rocha, a pediatric infectious diseases specialist in Pernambuco, one of the hardest hit states, said in an interview with CNN that women may want to hold off on getting pregnant.

"These are newborns who will require special attention their entire lives. It's an emotional stress that just can't be imagined...," Rocha said. "We're talking about a generation of babies that's going to be affected."

Until a few years ago, human infections with the virus were almost unheard of. Then, for reasons scientists can't explain but think may have to do with the complicated effects of climate change, it began to pop up in far-flung parts of the world. In 2007, it infected nearly three-quarters of Yap Island's 11,000 residents. In 2013, Zika showed up in Tahiti and other parts of French Polynesia and was responsible for making an estimated 28,000 people so ill they sought medical care. It arrived in Brazil in May, where tens of thousands have fallen ill.

The World Health Organization, which has been monitoring the spread of the virus closely and issued an alert about the situation in Brazil, reported this month that it had popped up for the first time in the West African nation of Cape Verde and that it had led to additional illnesses in Panama and Honduras.

In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found the virus in a few travelers returning from overseas, but says there have not come across any cases of people being infected by mosquitoes in the country.

Brazil has been struggling to contain the virus for months through both public education campaigns --which urge residents to use insect repelant and limit their time outdoors -- as well as by sending mosquito eradication teams house to house to treat places where aedes aegypti mosquito that carries the virus might breed. The health ministry said it was sending truckloads of larvicide -- enough to treat 3,560 Olympic-sized swimming pools -- to northeastern and southeastern states that have been most affected and that it would add 266,000 new community health agents to make the house calls.

Source:     Brazil Declares Emergency After 2400 Babies Are Born With Brain Damage