Laurel, a giant stinging tree of the genus Drendrochnidae, is as suspicious as it is large. Many reckless tales with hypodermic-needle-like hairs of its leaves have been injected with a poisonous drug that leads men to insanity and tells the rocks to blow themselves out of the rocks.
Some of these stories are centuries old and cannot be verified. But Edward Guilding can be sure, however, that these legends contain at least one smattering of truth: the sheer pain of being surrounded by a nice, down hair adorned with dendrochnid leaves and stems. Trees that grow taller than 100 feet are found in the rain forests of eastern Australia, where they are known to torment pilgrims.
“This is like eating your flesh,” said Dr. Gilding, a biologist and self-described Sting Knozer at the University of Queensland.
Even the bite of a tree hair has plenty of power to stay, the pain is released in waves for hours or days. Some jokes have reported intermittent pain for months; A few people with particularly bad stings have also been admitted to the hospital.
For most sufferers, such delayed grief may be a sufficient incentive to remove the plant. But Dr. Gilding and some like-minded sociologist comrades have instead labored to explain what dendacronide gives to his punch.
After dozens of experiments and numerous bites, they have identified some of the ingredients involved. As they report in the Science Advances Journal on Wednesday, Australia’s stinging trees are filled with a poison, which, when injected, detects pain-cells in the recipient and traps the scattered area into a molecule of endless screams. .
“A lot of things induce pain, and very little is known about why,” said Isaac Chie, a neurobiologist at Harvard University who was not involved in the study. D Ch. Shea noted that the tree’s venom targets the molecule found on nerve cells, which is the “basic for mammalian pain.” “If this hinders something that hinders him, it will be really exciting.”
The painful power of the dendrochnide plant has produced researchers for many decades. Trees often harm people as many of their habitats are marked with a warning sign, inadvertently warning visitors to “take care of stinging trees.” People who frequent these forests sometimes carry a handful of respirators, heavy-duty gloves and antihistamines.
But even scientists have not been able to drive enough to inject themselves with an extract made from tree venom, said Irina Wett, a pain researcher at the University of Queensland and author of the new study.
Those experiments, which are morally gray, can no longer be run, said Dr. Said Wett. But she, Dr. Gilding and his colleagues were still able to separate the chemical components of the toxic elements from the two dendrocanide species and create synthetic versions of the compounds in the lab. A very low protein found in both plants, the rats lick and nip right where it was injected. When thrown at the nerve cells, the atom flipped the trigger-happy cells to the “on” position, forcing them to send a stream of signals.
Researchers have named a group of native Austral Australians in the language of the Gabby Gubby people, the word for biting a tree, the minutes of paying homage to the gimpy-gimpy, the atomic gimpitides that cause pain.
Dr. Vetter was surprised to learn that gimpititis bears a striking resemblance to the venom produced by venomous spiders and cone snails, which use chemicals to disable their destructive prey.
“These three diverse groups of organisms – spiders, cone snails and now these trees – produce a toxin that is very similar,” said Shabnam Mohammadi, a research researcher at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
It is a wonderful example, she added, transforming different branches of the tree of life into a single solution.
Researchers are not sure how the toxin dendroxide benefits trees. “Maybe it acts as a kind of chemical armor to kill hungry vegetarians,” said the waiter. But some animals, such as beetles and padmelons – younger relatives of kangaroos – gladly munch on dendrochinid foliage, stinging spines and all.
Dr. Ch. Chiu and Dr. Mohammad. Mohammadi, both said they suspect that gimpetides are not the only factors that make dendroxide poisoning difficult, especially given the strange and persistent side effects to plants. Dr. Cutter Wetter’s previous feud with the tree has resulted in chest pain and shooting discomfort in his other limbs.
“I think they’re just scratching the surface of what these plants contain.” Dr .. Mohammadi said.
Until more mysterious elements of it could be identified, De Gil Gilford recommended clearing the steering of the stinging tree. “If you work with a plant, it’s pretty impossible not to get stung,” he said.
D challenge Guilford noted that the challenge is made more difficult by the inviting appearance of the plants. “The same hair that delivers an incredible amount of pain makes the leaves and stems feel soft and awful from the deception,” as if it’s a furry, friendly green plant you want to rub, ”he said.
In case it is not yet clear: do not.
