The other week as we were discussing the biochemical mechanisms of poison ivy and how that works got me thinking about other unpleasant encounters in nature, namely jellyfish stings! How does a poison work to a) bring about pain and b) in the most extreme cases, bring about death? Is the pain psychological or physiological? and perhaps most practically, how does the biochemical structure inform the biological mechanism, so that we might figure out a way to treat these painful and poisonous jellyfish stings?
When searching, I didn’t get as much of an answer for part a) but I found an awesome article that explains b) perfectly – very, very satisfying
Angel Yanagihara and colleagues at University of Hawaii and abroad have been trying to figure out the physiological mechanism of jellyfish stings . Apparently the blow of a jellyfish sting is due to these porin proteins which can rupture blood cells and release extreme amounts of potassium in the bloodstream – which leads to rapidly increasing heart rate and ultimately death. An very fascinating and thorough article on a new treatment for jellyfish stings can be found below!
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/science-sushi/2012/12/12/dont-pee-on-it-zinc-emerges-as-new-jellyfish-sting-treatment/
Audrey, what a fantastic title.
Also, a really scary thought – that this venom literally makes holes (pores) in one’s blood cells and ruptures them…
I love this title.
But it’s amazing what different types of venom can do. So many of them interact with blood!