A horrifying-looking, 8-inch-long venomous centipede could help to save the lives of people with kidney disease.
The Chinese red-headed centipede (Scolopendra subspinipes mutilans) contains special chemicals named alkaloids that reduce inflammation and fibrosis in kidney cell culture, according to a new paper in the Journal of Natural Products.
This species of centipede, also known as the Chinese red head, is one of over 1,000 animals used in traditional Chinese medicine. It has been called upon for millennia to treat ailments such as tuberculosis, epilepsy, heart disease, and even burns.
Traditional Chinese medicine uses a variety of plants and animals to treat a wide range of ailments, ranging from tiger bones (arthritis and other ailments), rhino horns (for fevers), bear bile, seahorses, and turtle shells.
While the scientific basis behind many of these treatments is lacking, some have been shown to contain biologically active compounds, such as some species of toad's venom being effective cancer treatments. This can lead to the development of drugs using these active chemicals.
According to the paper, this species of centipede contains secondary metabolites that can help to treat kidney disease. The researchers—hailing from Shenzhen University Medical School in China—extracted compounds from a sample of dried centipede powder and analyzed them using chromatography and spectrometry. They discovered that the centipede contained 12 brand-new alkaloid compounds, some of which had unique and unusual molecular structures.
"Twelve new alkaloids, scolopenolines A–L, along with six known analogs, were isolated from Scolopendra subspinipes mutilans, identified by analysis of spectroscopic data and quantum chemical and computational methods," the researchers wrote in the paper.
When they applied these alkaloids to cell cultures, they discovered that some of them had anti-inflammatory properties, while others also reduced renal fibrosis. Renal fibrosis is characterized by the accumulation of excess fibrous connective tissue, which can lead to chronic kidney disease. It can be stimulated by inflammation.
They also discovered that a protein in cells involved in renal fibrosis is targeted by one of the alkaloids.
The researchers hope that this discovery will provide a new route to developing drugs to treat kidney disease.
"[Several alkaloids] display anti-inflammatory activity, while [others] also exhibit anti-renal-fibrosis activity. Drug affinity responsive target stability and RNA-interference assays show that Lamp2 might be a potentially important target protein of [one of the alkaloids] for anti-renal-fibrosis activity," they wrote.
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