Funnel web spider venom extracts "Hi1a" protein to treat stroke brain damage.

Australian scientists have discovered a "saviour" that can fight stroke and brain damage, and it turned out to be the venom of a poisonous spider.
funnel web spider is a highly toxic large spider in Australia that releases one of the world's most dangerous toxins and kills people within 15 minutes if they bite it.
venom spiders have been shunned, but scientists at the University of Queensland and Monash University in Australia have looked at the funnel web spider's venom and looked for new medical methods from the proteins contained in the venom.
Australian scientists have extracted a protein that helps fight stroke in the venom of funnel-web spiders, brought back three funnel-web spiders from Fisher Island in north Queensland, and then extracted a protein called Hi1a from their venom and injected it into laboratory mice.
, lead researcher on the study and an expert at the University of Queensland, said: "We found that this protein blocks the key driver of brain damage after a stroke, the acid-sensitive ion channel in the brain.
" he said, this is the first time the medical community has found how to minimize brain damage after a stroke.
the new findings in the latest issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The study noted that the injection of the protein "Hi1a" two hours after a stroke reduced brain damage by as much as 80 percent, and that even eight hours after the stroke, "Hi1a" reduced brain damage by about 65 percent, greatly improving the chances of recovery for stroke patients.
"Hi1a" even protects some of the brain's most damaged areas from hypoxia during stroke.
Davies, director of the Brain Research Centre at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, said he hoped hi1a would be used to make an effective nerve protection agent that would allow stroke patients to be injected first on their way to hospital, increasing their chances of survival.
source: China Daily.com.