Caribbean cone snails (Conus regius) kill prey, including small fish, by harpooning them with hollow barb that pumps a complex mixture of at least ten neurotoxins into their prey. Researchers at the University of Utah have just published in PNAS, and their work is summarized by phys.org.
A small protein, Rg1A, binds to the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor and blocks chronic pain for 72 hours after it is injected into rodents. This is a non-opioid pathway, suggesting that there may be new, and less dangerous ways to treat pain. Researchers then did something incredibly clever. The synthesized 20 variants of the Rg1A peptide and found one, Rg1A4, that binds to the human nicotinic acetylcholine receptor. They went back to the rodent model to confirm that Rg1A4 prevented pain and did so by blocking the receptor, preventing it from sending pain signals. This new pain-blocking pathway will be the focus of much additional research.
(1) By Ataly (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons
(2) https://nihrecord.nih.gov/newsletters/2005/03_01_2005/story03.htm
(1) By Ataly (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons
(2) https://nihrecord.nih.gov/newsletters/2005/03_01_2005/story03.htm