Health Wanted: Snakes

The Episode

The topic: Symbolically and scientifically, snakes have long played a significant role in medicine. This week on Health Wanted, host Laurel Bristow and guest Steve Mackessy, PhD, dig into the history of snakes in health care and recent breakthroughs in venom research. 

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The takeaway: Snakes are not only a common symbol of health and medicine. Their venom, despite being toxic and capable of causing death, has also helped us develop life-saving drugs.

• Snakes have held symbolic connections to health and medicine since ancient times, largely due to Greek mythology. The Rod of Asclepius, named after an ancient Greek physician who carried a staff entwined with a snake, became a lasting symbol of medicine and continues to represent healing in medical logos today.
   
• The phrase “snake oil” comes from the 1800s, when Chinese railroad workers in the U.S. brought oil derived from Chinese water snakes to treat joint pain. It was an effective solution due to the high omega-3 content in the oil. American salesmen tried to replicate it using rattlesnakes, but their versions were ineffective. Today, the term “snake oil” refers to substances with no real medicinal value. 
   
• Snakes play an important role in health and medicine. Scientists have used venom to develop treatments, including early ACE inhibitors for high blood pressure and medications to stop bleeding. Snakes also serve as a natural form of pest control and help reduce the spread of many diseases carried by mice and rats. 
   
• Snakebite envenoming is a neglected tropical disease and the cause of death for up to 140,000 people every year. The best treatment for snakebite envenoming is antivenom, but it is expensive and complicated to make because it has to be tailored to the venom of specific snake species and regions.

The Interview

The guest: Steve Mackessy, PhD

The key takeaways: 

• Different snakes have different feeding mechanisms. Some subdue prey using constriction, others use venom, and some can use both. Snakes store venom in sacs below and behind their eyes. They inject this venom into prey through hollow fangs to subdue them.
• Over the course of evolution, snakes developed different types of venom to do different things, such as targeting the nervous system or causing blood to clot. Snake venom has also evolved to target specific prey species and continues to evolve over time.
• If you come across a snake in the wild, do not poke or disturb it. Instead, you should slowly move away from it. Poking it may provoke an attack, as snakes view people as threats and typically won’t go out of their way to strike unless provoked. If you are bitten by a snake in the wild, do not try to suck the venom out of the wound, as this is ineffective. Instead, find emergency care as quickly as possible.
• In the last decade, there have been many new developments in creating antivenom. Scientists are studying the proteins in venom to find better ways to produce antivenoms. However, the makeup of venom depends on the species, which makes it hard to create one single antivenom. Even between the same species of snake or across a single snake’s lifespan, venom can change on a molecular level.

The Listener Questions

I saw a study that said axolotl mucus can attack breast cancer and some drug-resistant staph infections. Is this actionable?

Axolotls are famous in research because they can regenerate their limbs if they are cut off. They also don’t go through metamorphosis, so they remain in neonatal form while still reaching sexual maturity.

Their list of medical accomplishments is now growing, because researchers found that the mucus that covers their bodies contains peptides that have antimicrobial properties.

They saw that the peptides could combat drug-resistant bacteria and also cause cell death in breast cancer cells while sparing the healthy cells around it, but this happens in cell cultures only. It’s an early concept that they might be useful as treatment, but it needs more research.

We are still likely several years away from any practical applications.

Do collagen supplements work? 

They might! Collagen is a major component of our skin. It makes it elastic and hydrated, and collagen production decreases as we age or when we drink alcohol, have too much UV exposure, or eat a lot of refined sugars or smoke.

However, topical application of collagen does not work. Collagen is too big to be absorbed through the skin, so be wary of “collagen lotions.”

There are a lot of ingestible collagen supplements, which some people say don’t work because they will be broken down by our stomach acids. While this is true, those amino acids can be absorbed and help with collagen production.

One analysis found improvement in skin texture and appearance with collagen supplements, and another meta-analysis said it can improve skin hydration and elasticity. Other studies have shown similar outcomes. However, supplements often contain other vitamins and ingredients that could also contribute, so it’s harder to say if it’s the collagen that is working or a different ingredient. According to a number of studies, fish collagen tends to have the most positive results.

Also, you have to take collagen supplements for eight to twelve weeks to see improvement, so you’ll need to stick with it. 

Catch all the listener questions and Laurel’s answers on the full episode of Health Wanted by:

• Streaming at wabe.org or the WABE app
• Subscribing on Apple or Spotify
• Watching on WABE's YouTube channel