Research on Frogs Could Lead to Medical Breakthroughs
- 11 years ago
According to a study, a Russian frog's skin fights bacteria.
A frog residing in a jug of milk would probably gross out a good percentage of humans.
Well there is an old Russian folktale which involves putting a frog into milk to keep the white liquid from turning sour.
A new study which appears in the Journal of Proteome Research claims that there really are antibiotic properties found in the skin of Russian brown frogs. Apparently the frog releases peptides through its skin. Those peptides contain antimicrobial properties.
These substances make up a major percentage of the frog’s skin secretions, serving as a fighting mechanism to protect against bacteria.
A researcher states “These peptides could be potentially useful for the prevention of both pathogenic and antibiotic resistant bacterial strains while their action may also explain the traditional experience of rural populations”.
Although scientists have long known that frogs are home to bacteria fighting substances, the power of frog peptides was really brought to light in 2010. At present, roughly 100 bacteria killing substances were discovered on approximately 6,000 species of frogs.
Researchers are attempting to modify those agents to be less toxic, so humans will be able to use them for medicinal purposes.
A frog residing in a jug of milk would probably gross out a good percentage of humans.
Well there is an old Russian folktale which involves putting a frog into milk to keep the white liquid from turning sour.
A new study which appears in the Journal of Proteome Research claims that there really are antibiotic properties found in the skin of Russian brown frogs. Apparently the frog releases peptides through its skin. Those peptides contain antimicrobial properties.
These substances make up a major percentage of the frog’s skin secretions, serving as a fighting mechanism to protect against bacteria.
A researcher states “These peptides could be potentially useful for the prevention of both pathogenic and antibiotic resistant bacterial strains while their action may also explain the traditional experience of rural populations”.
Although scientists have long known that frogs are home to bacteria fighting substances, the power of frog peptides was really brought to light in 2010. At present, roughly 100 bacteria killing substances were discovered on approximately 6,000 species of frogs.
Researchers are attempting to modify those agents to be less toxic, so humans will be able to use them for medicinal purposes.