Asian Journal
Of Traditional Medicines

Abstract: Buthus martensii Karsch has been used as a traditional Chinese medicine for more than 2000 years for its outstanding pharmaceutical effects. With the development of modern separation and purification technology, more and more peptides have been isolated from the venoms of Buthus martensii Karsch. And the progresses in biomass spectrum, bioinformation, and other related technologies make it possible to study the structure-function relationships deeply. Recent progress of analgesic peptides in Buthus martensii Karsch was reviewed, involving their structural characters, bioactive sites, eletrophysiological characters, et al. We speculated that this kind of peptides would become a new class of painkiller for their species-specificity, high selectivity and little dependence.

Key words: Buthus martensii Karsch, active peptide, analgesia activity, painkiller