Healing lizards: Regeneration and the heart

kingsnake.com BFF Dr. Bryan Grieg Fry is still playing with his goannas, but now he is learning that the venom of the big daddy monitor lizard, the Komodo Dragon, may play a very important role in helping with heart disease. From Australian Geographic:

FROM THE DEEPEST REACHES of the Australian desert to the cloud forests of Mexico, the University of Melbourne's Dr Bryan Fry has been on the trail of a group of lizards - and, more specifically, their venom. One of the key results of his team's study of so-called 'anguimorphs' - which include monitor lizards and the komodo dragon - is the discovery of three toxins that lower blood pressure. The team hopes this could one day lead to new drugs to treat people. It was only four years ago that the same international team reported finding that venom is widespread in lizards, not restricted to a few species, as had been thought. In a bid to find out more, the researchers extracted and analysed venom from 23 different lizards.

One side note that Bryan has always stressed is there is a vast difference in venoms and many are not considered medically significant. However for heart patients, Komodos may save your future. Spinal injuries are some of the most crippling, but studying the Axolotl salamanders is leading to possible gene replacements in the future. From The Hindu:

Axolotl salamanders are now going under the knife, under anaesthesia, in experiments at the Hanover Medical School in Germany. The hope is one day for their genes to be transplanted to people who lose limbs and organs only to see them regrow. [....] The grail is to create amblox artificially. Initial tests on human skin cells have been encouraging; wounds do heal faster, skin grows back at an accelerated pace. But a breakthrough in terms of regenerating limbs and organs is a long way off.

While this research is just starting, the hopes of many will rely on it.