Studying the Rationale of Fire Ant Sting Therapy Usage by the Tribal Natives of Bastar Revealed Ant Venom-Derived Peptides with Promising Anti-Malarial Activity
Prevailing drug resistance in malaria imposes the major roadblock for the existing interventions necessitating the timely need to search for alternative therapies. Ants in Solenopsis <i>spp</i>, termed ’Fire ants’, are well known for their aggressive behavior, which leads to the release...
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| Format: | Article |
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MDPI AG
2022-11-01
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| Series: | Toxins |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6651/14/11/789 |
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| author | Jyoti Kumari Raj Kumar Sah Nazar Mohamed Mohaideen. S Shakeel Ahmad Soumya Pati Shailja Singh |
| author_facet | Jyoti Kumari Raj Kumar Sah Nazar Mohamed Mohaideen. S Shakeel Ahmad Soumya Pati Shailja Singh |
| author_sort | Jyoti Kumari |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Prevailing drug resistance in malaria imposes the major roadblock for the existing interventions necessitating the timely need to search for alternative therapies. Ants in Solenopsis <i>spp</i>, termed ’Fire ants’, are well known for their aggressive behavior, which leads to the release of toxic venom. Notably, the tribal natives of the malaria-laden densely forested Bastar region, Chhattisgarh, India, use fire ant sting-based therapy to cure malaria-like high fever. Inspired by this, we have collected the fire ants from the forest of Bastar and extracted peptide and alkaloid fractions from ant venom using HPLC and analyzed them by LC/MS-based applications. Evaluation of the anti-malarial efficacy of these peptide fractions demonstrated a significant reduction in the growth of <i>Plasmodium falciparum</i> (<i>Pf</i> 3D7) in vitro, whereas the alkaloid fraction showed a negligible effect. in vitro hemolytic activity confirmed the venom peptide fraction to be non-hemolytic. Additionally, the venom peptide fraction is purely non-toxic to HepG2 cells. Anti-malarial efficiency of the same in <i>Plasmodium berghei ANKA</i> infected mice models showed a drastic reduction in parasitemia representing promising anti-malarial activity. Overall, our study has unraveled the scientific rationale underlying fire ant sting therapy used as a tribal naturotherapy for curing malaria-like fever, thus, introducing a way forward to develop nature-inspired anti-malarial chemotherapeutics. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T17:57:05Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-56c6897328034030bb0205fe6887d2d6 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2072-6651 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T17:57:05Z |
| publishDate | 2022-11-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Toxins |
| spelling | doaj.art-56c6897328034030bb0205fe6887d2d62023-11-24T10:15:15ZengMDPI AGToxins2072-66512022-11-01141178910.3390/toxins14110789Studying the Rationale of Fire Ant Sting Therapy Usage by the Tribal Natives of Bastar Revealed Ant Venom-Derived Peptides with Promising Anti-Malarial ActivityJyoti Kumari0Raj Kumar Sah1Nazar Mohamed Mohaideen. S2Shakeel Ahmad3Soumya Pati4Shailja Singh5Department of Life Sciences, School of Natural Sciences, Shiv Nadar Institute of Eminence, Delhi 201314, IndiaSpecial Centre for Molecular Medicine, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi 110067, IndiaSpecial Centre for Molecular Medicine, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi 110067, IndiaSpecial Centre for Molecular Medicine, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi 110067, IndiaDepartment of Life Sciences, School of Natural Sciences, Shiv Nadar Institute of Eminence, Delhi 201314, IndiaSpecial Centre for Molecular Medicine, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi 110067, IndiaPrevailing drug resistance in malaria imposes the major roadblock for the existing interventions necessitating the timely need to search for alternative therapies. Ants in Solenopsis <i>spp</i>, termed ’Fire ants’, are well known for their aggressive behavior, which leads to the release of toxic venom. Notably, the tribal natives of the malaria-laden densely forested Bastar region, Chhattisgarh, India, use fire ant sting-based therapy to cure malaria-like high fever. Inspired by this, we have collected the fire ants from the forest of Bastar and extracted peptide and alkaloid fractions from ant venom using HPLC and analyzed them by LC/MS-based applications. Evaluation of the anti-malarial efficacy of these peptide fractions demonstrated a significant reduction in the growth of <i>Plasmodium falciparum</i> (<i>Pf</i> 3D7) in vitro, whereas the alkaloid fraction showed a negligible effect. in vitro hemolytic activity confirmed the venom peptide fraction to be non-hemolytic. Additionally, the venom peptide fraction is purely non-toxic to HepG2 cells. Anti-malarial efficiency of the same in <i>Plasmodium berghei ANKA</i> infected mice models showed a drastic reduction in parasitemia representing promising anti-malarial activity. Overall, our study has unraveled the scientific rationale underlying fire ant sting therapy used as a tribal naturotherapy for curing malaria-like fever, thus, introducing a way forward to develop nature-inspired anti-malarial chemotherapeutics.https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6651/14/11/789ant venomanti-malarial activity<i>Plasmodium falciparum</i>venom peptidealkaloidsBastar tribes |
| spellingShingle | Jyoti Kumari Raj Kumar Sah Nazar Mohamed Mohaideen. S Shakeel Ahmad Soumya Pati Shailja Singh Studying the Rationale of Fire Ant Sting Therapy Usage by the Tribal Natives of Bastar Revealed Ant Venom-Derived Peptides with Promising Anti-Malarial Activity Toxins ant venom anti-malarial activity <i>Plasmodium falciparum</i> venom peptide alkaloids Bastar tribes |
| title | Studying the Rationale of Fire Ant Sting Therapy Usage by the Tribal Natives of Bastar Revealed Ant Venom-Derived Peptides with Promising Anti-Malarial Activity |
| title_full | Studying the Rationale of Fire Ant Sting Therapy Usage by the Tribal Natives of Bastar Revealed Ant Venom-Derived Peptides with Promising Anti-Malarial Activity |
| title_fullStr | Studying the Rationale of Fire Ant Sting Therapy Usage by the Tribal Natives of Bastar Revealed Ant Venom-Derived Peptides with Promising Anti-Malarial Activity |
| title_full_unstemmed | Studying the Rationale of Fire Ant Sting Therapy Usage by the Tribal Natives of Bastar Revealed Ant Venom-Derived Peptides with Promising Anti-Malarial Activity |
| title_short | Studying the Rationale of Fire Ant Sting Therapy Usage by the Tribal Natives of Bastar Revealed Ant Venom-Derived Peptides with Promising Anti-Malarial Activity |
| title_sort | studying the rationale of fire ant sting therapy usage by the tribal natives of bastar revealed ant venom derived peptides with promising anti malarial activity |
| topic | ant venom anti-malarial activity <i>Plasmodium falciparum</i> venom peptide alkaloids Bastar tribes |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6651/14/11/789 |
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