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Deadly spider venom may prevent stroke brain damage, doctors say

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A funnel web spider bite can kill a human in 15 minutes. Photo: AFP

Doctors have stumbled on an unlikely source for a drug to ward off brain damage caused by strokes: the venom of one of the deadliest spiders in the world.

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A bite from an Australian funnel web spider can kill a human in 15 minutes, but a harmless ingredient found in the venom can protect brain cells from being destroyed by a stroke, even when given hours after the event, scientists say.

If the compound fares well in human trials, it could become the first drug that doctors have to protect against the devastating loss of neurons that strokes can cause.

Researchers discovered the protective molecule by chance as they sequenced the DNA of toxins in the venom of the Darling Downs funnel web spider (Hadronyche infensa) that lives in Queensland and New South Wales.

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A researcher milking the venom from a deadly funnel-web spider. Photo: AFP
A researcher milking the venom from a deadly funnel-web spider. Photo: AFP
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