The pain caused to humans by the Gimpi-gympie plant can drive him crazy
Many people consider Australia a very dangerous place full of poisonous creatures. And this is a perfectly correct idea, because this continent literally wants to kill everyone who finds themselves on it. The Internet is full of photos and videos, where locals try to drive away from their homes huge snakes and spiders. But did you know that Australian nature is also full of poisonous plants? Take, for example, the treeGympie-gympie (Dendrocnide moroides),which causes terrible pain to everyone who touches it. People describe this pain as a mixture of burning acid and discharge of electric current, and these terrible sensations can last for a month or more. And often this pain can not take away even painkillers. Until now, scientists have not been able to understand how an Australian plant brings people so terrible torment. It turned out to contain poison previously unknown to science.
I've already talked about the Gympie-Gympie tree in an article about. It grows in the rainforests of Australia and Indonesia and is considered to be the most poisonous plant in the world. It can't kill a person by itself. However, people who were not lucky enough to touch it, experienced intolerable pain, which can lead to suicide. Fortunately, no victim of Gympie-Gympi has committed suicide yet. But this does not mean that the plant is not dangerous. After all, it should be terrible when a person for a month continuously experiences pain, which doctors can not calm. Even the enemy would not wish such torture.
Leaves of the Gimpi-Gympie tree
According to researcher Irina Vetter, on the surface of all stinging plants like nettles there are tiny needles, called trihoms. Their length does not exceed 5 millimeters, so they look like thin hairs. When a person touches them, they act as needles for subcutaneous injections. Only in the human body get not medicines, and a mixture of poisonous substances. Earlier, histamine and ant acid were found inside the stinging plant Gympie-Gymri. They are also contained in ordinary nettles and cause pain. However, compared to the torment of a tropical plant, the pain of nettles is a small thing.
Trichomoma Gimpy-Gympy under the microscope
Recently, Australian scientists decided to study more thoroughly the substances that are part of the "hell mixture" inside the poisonous Gympie-gympy. It turned out that in addition to the components mentioned above, inside the plant there is a completely new poison for science. It was given the nameGympietides. During laboratory experiments, scientists have found that it directly affects the most important components of nerve cells. But it is the irritation of nerve cells that causes pain in living organisms. Poison gympietide has the ability to affect nerve cells for a very long time, so the victims of the plant and suffer for weeks and months.
The results of the study were shared. From now on, scientists know what causes severe pain in the victims of the plant Gympi-gympi. This means that soon they will be able to develop an effective painkiller. And this remedy against pain can be useful in the fight against the pain caused by venomous snakes and sea snails. And all because the structure of the hympietide is similar to the poisons of some varieties of these animals. And what else is interesting - how did evolution make so that poisonous substances inside plants and animals suddenly acquired similar properties? In the scientific environment, the phenomenon in which organisms from different groups acquire common traits is called converged evolution. For example, dolphins are very similar in appearance to fish, but they are mammals. Most likely, scientists will also study the common features of plants and animals.
Have you ever wondered if plants can experience pain? After all, as a child, many of us liked to beat nettles with sticks. Maybe they were in pain, and we didn't even know that? The author of the Hi-News.ru Ilya Hel can find out whether it is possible to avenge nettles for the pain caused. In his article, he talked about how.