OBJECTIVE This study was conducted to investigate the amino-acid compositions of pharmacopuncture extracts taken from the body and from the tail of Buthus martensii Karsch, which are frequently prescribed in Oriental medicine. METHODS Amino acids in hot water and 70% ethanol extracts taken from the scorpion's whole body and from its tail were screened by using high performance liquid chromato...

Objective: Scorpion stings are common in tropical regions of Iran. Hemiscorpius enischnochela are distributed in southern part of Iran. The venom of this scorpion causes severe hemolysis, hemoglobinuria, and occasionally death.Case Presentation: This report describes the clinical manifestations of envenomation by H. enischnochela in a 3-year-old boy from Ruydar city in south of Iran.<br /...

We recently reported the isolation of a scorpion toxin named U1-liotoxin-Lw1a (U1-LITX-Lw1a) that adopts an unusual 3D fold termed the disulfide-directed hairpin (DDH) motif, which is the proposed evolutionary structural precursor of the three-disulfide-containing inhibitor cystine knot (ICK) motif found widely in animals and plants. Here we reveal that U1-LITX-Lw1a targets and activates the ma...

Scorpion primers can be used to detect PCR products in homogeneous solution. Their structure promotes a unimolecular probing mechanism. We compare their performance with that of the same probe sequence forced to act in a bimolecular manner. The data suggest that Scorpions indeed probe by a unimolecular mechanism which is faster and more efficient than the bimolecular mechanism. This mechanism i...

introduction: scorpion venom is a source of bioactive peptides, and some antimicrobial peptides (amps) have been found in the venom gland of scorpions. therefore, the discovery of new anti-infective agents is an essential need to overcome the problem of antibiotic resistance of clinical isolates. here, we describe three new cationic amps, including meuvap-6, meuap-18-1, and meupep34 from the ve...

conclusion: the newly produced recombinant protein bmk revealed to be immunogenic. moreover, anti-bmk antibodies produced in mice were able to recognize both the recombinant bmk neurotoxin and the one in m. eupeus crude venome. taken together, the molecular characterization and recombinant production of the iranian scorpion m. eupeus venom component can serve as a new probe for further studies ...

objectives in this study, we reported the identification of a cdna sequence encoding cysteine-free antimicrobial peptides isolated from venomous glands of this species. materials and methods total rna was extracted from the iranian mesobuthus eupeus venom glands, and cdna was synthesized by using the modified oligo (dt). the cdna was used as the template for applying semi-nested rt- pcr techniq...

Background: Poison Control Centre of Morocco (MPCC) plays a key role in promoting health. This study was aimed to demonstrate the role of the MPCC in improving public health and poisoning management. Methods: This was a retrospective study of poisoning cases reported to the MPCC between 1980 and 2011. The collected data included number of poisoning cases, profession of interlocutor who called t...

Scorpion venom contains different toxins with multiple biological functions. IMe-AGAP is the first Analgesic-Antitumor like Peptide (AGAP) isolated from Iranian scorpion Mesobuthus eupeus. This peptide is similar to AGAP toxin with high analgesic activity, extracted from Chinese scorpion and inhibits NaV1.8 and NaV1.9 voltage-gated sodium channels involved in the ...

Scorpion venom contains different toxins with multiple biological functions. IMe-AGAP is the first Analgesic-Antitumor like Peptide (AGAP) isolated from Iranian scorpion Mesobuthus eupeus. This peptide is similar to AGAP toxin with high analgesic activity, extracted from Chinese scorpion and inhibits NaV1.8 and NaV1.9 voltage-gated sodium channels involved in the ...