Humanity has been taking measures against pain since ancient times. The painkiller that was said to be a panacea for pain was opium since ancient times. This drug was widely used in ancient Greece and Rome as well as in the Mediterranean coastal areas. The problem was the addiction to this drug. Around 1990, the use of opioids as a painkiller with few side effects was approved. Opioids are made from ingredients extracted from poppies. In modern times, opioids have become indispensable drugs in the medical field as painkillers. However, there are also troublesome issues. There are cases that taking opioids (painkillers) reduces the motivation to work. The negative effects of painkiller addiction, that patients stop working, are beginning to appear in the economic sphere. The reality is that opioids are creating a large number of addicts. It is said that more than 100 people die from addiction every day. During his first term, President Trump even declared a “public health emergency” in response to opioid abuse. Furthermore, a troubling situation has arisen. As doctors have reduced the prescription of this painkiller, more and more people are turning to illegal heroin.
It seems that the wall of pain has been overcome. But beyond that lies the wall of addiction. Overcoming this wall will require the development of drugs and treatment methods that target addiction. In the midst of all this, the beautiful cone snail has been attracting attention. Divers consider this shell to be a beautiful but very dangerous creature. The poison of this shell is a type of neurotoxin called conotoxin, which consists of multiple poisons. If you are bitten by it, it is a dangerous shell that can cause breathing difficulties and loss of life unless appropriate measures such as artificial respiration and cardiopulmonary resuscitation are taken. The poison of the cone snail blocks the ion channels of nerve cells. When this channel is blocked, the senses become numb, convulsions occur, and the body becomes immobile.
However, the pain-relieving effect of this poison is amazing. In experiments using rats, conotoxin is said to have an analgesic effect 10,000 times stronger than morphine. It was found that conotoxin paralyzes pain-sensing nerves, and has an analgesic effect that exceeds that of morphine. The reason that conotoxin has attracted attention is that it is not addictive like opium, and tolerance does not easily develop. Conotoxin, a shellfish poison, has recently been approved as a painkiller under the name ziconotide. In the United States, this drug is already being used to relieve pain in advanced cancer and herpes. There seems to be a fine line between poison and medicine.
