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Melittin venom
Melittin venom
Products
Melittin is
a peptide that consists of 26 amino acids that are isolated from bee venom and takes up about 50% of the venom composition. It is in a white powder form at room temperature and has strong alkali. In addition, it dissolves well in water, and its molecular weight is about 2,849 Da. The main pharmacological actions and physiological functions of bee venom come from melittin, and it has various pharmacological effects such as anti-inflammation, pain relief, antiviral effect, etc.
Most pharmacological actions of bee venom
come from the activity of all venom substances or main individual substances. The bee venom is composed of more than 40 materials, including peptide, amino acids, active amine, etc., and the most important substances are melittin, apamin, MCD-peptide, etc. Overall, it stimulates pituitary hormone secretion stimulation, improves blood circulation, etc., and has pain relief, anti-inflammatory, and antibacterial effects.
Melittin is a main substance of bee venom
and takes up 40%–50% of bee venom. Its effects include cell dissolution, enzymatic action pain relief, antibacterial, antiradiation, etc. In particular, melittin has excellent antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and antiviral effects. According to reports, bee venom and melittin inhibit 20 out of 30 microbial species, and the antibacterial action of bee venom occurs mostly because of melittin. The antibacterial action of 1 mg melittin has an effect of 0.1–93 units of penicillin in gram-positive bacteria or 93–1,700 units of penicillin in gram-negative bacteria. Moreover, it has an excellent inflammation inhibition effect. Melittin induces the secretion of catecholamine and cortisone by stimulating the pituitary gland–adrenal gland system, thereby resulting to an anti-inflammation effect. Recently, it has been found that melittin kills human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) so that the spread of AIDS can be prevented, but the complete mechanism of melittin in the human body is not yet known. Melittin has the following treatment and prevention effects.
- Treatment of immune-mediated diseases: Bee venom’s melittin is effective for the treatment of most immune-mediated diseases as it stimulates the immune system of mammals to effectively fight against diseases. The two immune actions of bee venom’s melittin are (1) the stimulation of an organism’s physiological system and (2) the boosting of the body’s resistance.
- Anti-inflammatory effect: The main substances of bee venom are highly effective for inhibiting inflammation. In particular, for arthritis, edema is greatly inhibited when melittin and apamin are injected. Protease inhibitor and adolapin also decrease edema by 15%–40%.
- Hemolytic effect: It is the most effective among all of bee venom’s actions. Through the actions of melittin, phospholipase, etc., extravasated blood—such as bruise, internal bleeding, etc.—is absorbed and excreted, and new blood, oxygen, and nutrition for tissues are provided for treatment and hemolysis.
- Antibacterial action: It has excellent antibacterial and antifungal effects, and is also effective for virus-induced tumors, etc. In particular, it has a very good treatment effect on periodontitis, tonsillitis, sty, and purulent diseases.