It turns out that "scorpion venom" is a "painkiller" for grasshopper mice. A research team at the University of Michigan in the United States has published the research results. In addition, the university's homepage contains a video of grasshoppers bravely hunting down scorpions and eating them.


The grasshopper mouse is a feeding insect mouse that inhabits the United States and Mexico. A research team led by Ashlee Rowe, an assistant professor at the University of Michigan, experimented with how scorpion venom works on grasshopper mice.

First, the research team investigated whether grasshoppers felt pain from scorpion venom. Inject a small amount of scorpion venom and non-toxic saline into the mouse and observe the reaction. Surprisingly, they were found to have a more painful response to saline than scorpion venom.

The research team then investigated how scorpion venom acts on grasshopper nerve cells and sodium channels. As a result, they found that scorpion venom acts as an "analgesic" by binding to sodium channels in murine pain-related cells, blocking nerve cells from signaling "pain" to the brain. It seems to.

By the way, this research team went out to the desert for experiments and collected grasshoppers and scorpions by themselves. What a passion ...! Rowe said the study could contribute to the development of painkillers for humans in the future and will continue to experiment with sodium channels.

On the university's homepage, there is a video of a grasshopper holding down a scorpion desperately struggling to pierce a poison needle and starting to eat munching. The appearance of the grasshopper mouse eating is cute, so if you are interested, please check it out. The season is autumn of appetite!