Are centipedes poisonous?

Centipedes can be seen everywhere in daily life. The longest centipede on earth is about 23 cm, but this big centipede is not very common. Generally speaking, the more common centipedes are 13 to 18 cm. Centipedes like to stay in dark and humid places. When many people see centipedes, they wonder whether centipedes are poisonous and how poisonous they are. Let us find out whether centipedes are poisonous.

1. Centipedes have the therapeutic effect of promoting blood circulation and activating blood circulation, which may be closely related to the proteases, hemolytic factors and other blood system activating factors in their venom. Deng Fen et al. compared the hemolytic activity of the crude venom of living Scolopendra subspinipes, medicinal Scolopendra subspinipes and Scolopendra multispinipes through a hemolytic test [1]. The results showed that all of them had hemolytic activity. The activity of medicinal centipede venom was much lower than that of the living one. The activity of old medicinal centipede venom was 1 times lower than that of fresh medicinal centipede venom. The activity of multispinipes venom was significantly higher than that of Scolopendra subspinipes. Modern pharmacological studies have shown that the main effect of animal medicinal materials is their peptide components.

2. Scientists have used centipede venom to inject it into the abdomen of houseflies, which can kill them [8]. However, a single component does not have such an effect. The possible reason is that the component is inactivated during the purification process or the concentration is too low. It may also be that the components work synergistically to kill houseflies. The study found that a toxin extract from a medium-sized (10 cra) centipede, Slziridicornis nigra, could instantly poison houseflies even when diluted 100,000 times the injected amount. Immediately after injection of the toxin, houseflies develop paralysis of their legs and wings. At the same time, observations of confined animals revealed that the venomous jaws of this centipede can instantly paralyze two other insects.

3. Arthropods contain neurotoxins. Some, such as ant and spider toxins, have been used as probes in neurological research. Scientists have used extracts from the venomous jaws of five species of centipedes to conduct toxicity experiments on mice and found that the animals became restless and the drug was inactive after administration. The drug neither prolonged the clotting time nor degraded plasma fibrinogen, indicating that they were breathing faster, had convulsions, respiratory failure, and finally died. It is believed that the centipede venom paralyzes the respiratory center, and thus it is speculated that centipede venom is a neurotoxin. Wang You et al. obtained very similar results by intraperitoneally injecting crude centipede venom into mice.

The above is a detailed explanation and introduction to whether centipedes are poisonous. Centipedes are very poisonous, so you must not take a centipede bite lightly. You must be extra careful when handling the situation, and don't be too concerned or worried about your mood. Centipedes not only harm and bite people, but they are also very good traditional Chinese medicine for treating cancer.