La Rainette-singe au secours de la thérapeutique

In the Amazon River region during initiation rites, certain members of the local Indian tribes put a venom extract from a local tree frog (Phyllomedusa bicolor) on burns in their skin, thereby quickly falling into unconsciousness. Biochemists have, by studying this venom, isolated two of its molecules : dermorphine, with an analgesic power a thousand times that of morphine, and dermaseptin, which can destroy the fungi that proliferate in cardiac and pulmonary cavities. This batrachofian has thus become a rich source of active substances for the biochemists. The discovery of new molecules will no doubt allow doctors and researchers to fight more efficiently against infections and parasitoses.