Researchers discover help for stroke patients in spider DNA

Researchers have discovered a way to prevent further damage to your brain after suffering a stroke, and it is all thanks to spiders.

While you might jokingly say coming across a funnel-web spider might be enough to make you have a stroke, the facts are their DNA could instead be a life saver.

Research by the University of Queensland suggests the a double-knot spider-venom peptide can eliminate up to 80 per cent of the brain damage caused by strokes, which trigger a chain reaction of neuron death in neighbouring tissues.

Professor Glenn King, from the Institute for Molecular Bioscience at the university says their research harnesses the chemistry of venoms from arthropod predators, such as spiders, scorpions and centipedes, to develop novel pharmaceuticals to treat chronic pain, epilepsy and stroke. 

According to the research six million people die each year from stroke, and five million survivors are left with a permanent disability.

Neuronal damage caused by stroke often triggers a progressive decline in cognitive function that doubles the risk of dementia for stroke survivors.

Currently there are no approved drugs for treating the neuronal injury caused to the brain by the oxygen deprivation occurring during an ischemic stroke.

Their research shows using a “double-knot” spider venom peptide massively attenuates brain damage after stroke and improves behavioural outcomes, even if administered eight hours after stroke onset.

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