Bee Venom: Use In Medicine, Mechanism Of Action

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

Useful properties of bee venom

Chemists believe that histamine (1%), magnesium phosphate (0.4% by weight of the dried poison) and a high content of acetylcholine have a certain therapeutic function. Enzymes (hyaluronidase and phospholipase A), copper, calcium, sulfur, phosphorus, volatile oils and protein substances also play an important role in the effectiveness of bee venom. In particular, bee venom contains a protein compound, melittin, which is about 50% in dry matter (it has 26 amino acids and is characterized by increased surface activity).

The venom's volatile oils cause a burning sensation and soreness when stinging a bee. Bee venom dries quickly even at normal room temperature, losing two-thirds of its weight.

Scientists have found that, like snake venom, bee venom is one of the most powerful antibiotic compounds, especially against gram-positive microbes. An aqueous solution of bee venom, for example, they determined, is sterile (i.e., does not contain microorganisms) even at a dilution of 1: 50,000. American military doctors injected a saline solution with bee venom into laboratory mice before their subsequent powerful radiation exposure. After completing the experiment, these specialists obtained up to 80% of the surviving rodents after using bee venom.

The honeybee leaving the cell has no poison yet, but already on the second day of its life it has about 0.04 mg of liquid poison. Every day its quantity in a bee increases; Poisonous glands reach their greatest development at the age of 12-18 days. After all, a mature worker bee must not only collect pollen, but also perform guard functions to protect its nest. An adult bee is capable of giving from 0.4 to 0.8 mg of venom. About 0.1 mg of poison is taken from one bee. Bee venom is massively obtained from the colony using special devices - by acting on the bees with an electric current. If the poison is taken from the bees with its help in a gentle mode (every 12-14 days), then this operation of "crushing" the poisonous glands of these insects does not negatively affect the productivity of the family and the amount of brood raised. Thanks to these techniques, you can get more than 2 g in the spring-summer period without causing much harm to the bee colony. Experts try to remove the poison from bees to a minimum in the spring, when the colonies are still weak, and in the fall, when the bees go into winter.

For medical purposes, bee sting or poison obtained by specially developed methods is used. Its quantity and composition depend on the age of the bee, the season and food. The highest biological activity is possessed by the poison collected during the period of the greatest honey harvest, for its "production" pollen is needed. It has been determined that the first spring generations of bees have the largest amount of venom, by autumn it decreases, and in winter it is quite stable. Small doses of poison do not have a significant effect on the human body. The therapeutic effect of such its norms is mainly associated with its ability to activate the content of special compounds in the blood, due to which the body's resistance increases. But when receiving large doses of bee venom, a person develops a swelling, redness of the skin, dizziness,and sometimes shock and suffocation.

Currently, pharmacology has established a widespread production of preparations from bee venom in an industrial way. Medicine offers bee venom and its preparations in the form of various dosage forms (oil and water sterile solutions in ampoules, ointments) For example, they can be rubbed into the skin in the form of ointments, by inhalation and electrophoresis, subcutaneous injections, taken in the form of tablets. Some experts consider the method of electrophoresis to be the most acceptable and effective, explaining that in this way the drug is deposited in the subcutaneous tissue, from where it slowly passes into the blood, lengthening the time of the drug's effect. Still, in practice, it has been proven that the introduction of poison into the human body by direct stinging of a bee has the greatest effect than the use of factory preparations.

For this reason, the method of direct stinging of bees is still used by the tried and tested "old-fashioned" medicine - in the area of the joints, lower back and along the nerves. For this purpose, a certain part of the body is washed with warm water, then, holding the bee by the back with special tweezers, gently apply it with its abdomen to the skin. After stinging, the sting is removed from the skin after 10 minutes, then the wound is disinfected with boric petroleum jelly or other recommended ointment. After such a procedure, the patient lies for 20-30 minutes.

The penetration of bee venom into the human body after the sting leads to a local or general reaction. The nature of the manifestation of this effect is influenced by the dose and biological activity of the poison of the insect, the state of health and the place of the sting of a person. As a rule, a person is able to painlessly perceive up to 5-10 simultaneously applied stings (but under the supervision of a doctor), 200-300 cause severe poisoning of the body, and 500 are considered a lethal dose for an adult. A transparent droplet of poison has medicinal and toxic properties, depending on the dose, providing a quick effect on the body. There is a huge difference between therapeutic, toxic (toxic) and lethal doses. The toxic dose of bee venom is tens of times, and the lethal dose is hundreds of times greater than the therapeutic one. The sensitivity (intolerance) of bee venom is seriously affected by age, gender, health and body resistance. It was found that men are less susceptible to bee venom than children, women and the elderly.

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