Peptides with Diverse Functions from Scorpion Venom: A Great Opportunity for the Treatment of a Wide Variety of Diseases.

The venom glands are a rich source of biologically important peptides with a wide range of pharmaceutical properties. Scorpion venoms have been identified as a reservoir for the components which might be considered as great candidates for drug development. These components are usually used by a scorpion to capture prey and defense; however, pharmacological properties of the venom compounds have been confirmed in the treatment of different disorders, including cardiac diseases, autoimmune diseases, infections, and varied cancer types. Ion channel blockers, antimicrobial peptides and proteins, are the main groups of scorpion venom components. Despite several studies exist on the subject of scorpion peptides, there are still valuable components to be discovered. Additionally, owing to the improvement of proteomics and transcriptomics, the number of peptide drugs is steadily increasing, which reflects the importance of it. This review evaluates the available literature about some important scorpion venom peptides with pharmaceutical activities. Given that the last three years have been dominated by the COVID-19 from the medical/pharmaceutical perspective, scorpion compounds with potential against the coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) are also discussed in this review.

Intraspecific differences in Androctunus crassicauda venom and envenomation symptoms.

Envenomation by Androctunus crassicauda is very frequent in Iran, especially in the south-west. This scorpion is one of the six scorpions whose venom is used to prepare anti-venom. Using HPLC, we discovered venom components of A. crassicauda varies from one specimen to another depending on geographical location, and this result is confirmed by those first found in various symptoms of A. crassicauda sting in envenomed persons from two separate geographical places (north and south of Khuzestan province). There was a significant relationship between symptoms and location of envenomation by A. crassicauda. Muscle spasm was more dominant in envenomed people from Northern cities, and venom chromatogram analysis showed the presence of at least six main sharp peaks in Northern A. crassicauda rather than Southern A. crassicauda. It shows intraspecific differences in venom of A. crassicauda that must be considered in treatment of stung people from different geographical locations as well as in the preparation of anti-venom. See also Figure 1(Fig. 1).