Blood-Sucking Barbeiro Bug Helps Treat Strokes

Function

The Barbeiro bug is a type of shield bug, which lives by sucking blood from other creatures in a way similar to that of ticks and mosquitos. Barbeiro bugs usually live in the nests of mice, and suck the blood of baby mice from the time they are born. When no mice are available, Barbeiro bugs also suck human blood. Blood has a natural clotting function that keeps blood from flowing out of injured vessels. Without this function, blood would continue to flow out of even a small wound, which could result in death. However, the Barbeiro bug is able to suck so much blood from various animals by somehow disabling this clotting function. The secret to their ability lies in the saliva that they secrete while sucking blood. This saliva contains a type of protein called prolixin-S, which prevents blood from hardening. Before sucking blood, the Barbeiro bug injects its own saliva into the other creature’s blood vessel, thus preventing the blood from hardening. Prolixin-S also has the function of relaxing blood vessels, which counteracts blood vessels natural tendency to contract when injured, lessening blood flow. As such, prolixin-S has the ability to both prevent blood clotting and relax blood vessels, which means that the host animals’ blood will continue to flow through widened vessels, allowing the Barbeiro bug to suck blood more easily.

Functional Classification

Defense/Stability:
Anti-coagulant

Environmental Solution Classification

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Technical Application

Products and Services

Type of Business

Proposals of Applied Technology

The prolixin-S extracted from the Barbeiro bug’s salivary glands is expected to be useful in developing anticoagulant medication for strokes, heart attacks, problems involving thrombosis (blood clotting), and high blood pressure. Moreover, prolixin-S’ ability to relax blood vessels could be useful in developing medication to alleviate common after-effects of brain disease, such as pain and the hardening of muscles. From the perspective of a host creature, the effects of prolixin-S appear undesirable. However, this protein’s function could be put to good use in unexpected ways, like for the treatment of stroke victims. When strokes occur, blood vessels contract until the brain cannot maintain a sufficient blood flow. Blood clots block the interior of blood vessels, causing the symptoms of a stroke. If we can utilize prolixin-S extracted from the Barbeiro bug, we can prevent blood clotting and the formation of blood clots, while relaxing blood vessels and allowing them to expand so that sufficient blood flow can be maintained. In other words, we could develop an effective new stroke medication.

Proposals of Applied Industry

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