Black Mamba and Mambalgines

At the Institute of Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology in Sophia Antipolis near Nice, scientists from Eric Lingueglia's team discovered a new class of analgesic compounds from black mamba venom, one of the most poisonous snakes in the world.
Researchers are studying the molecular mechanisms of pain in which ion channels play a central role by generating an electrical current that is the basis for detecting the pain signal and transmitting it to the nervous system. By studying more particularly the black mamba, they discovered two molecules which they named Mambalgine 1and 2 which block the ion channels. In tests on mice, they found that'they had very strong analgesic properties, as powerful as morphine but without its side effects.