Dear friends I am a professional chemist, and a passionate cone collector. So I understand a bit about what is behind conotoxins. As it has been pointed out, there are several groups which carry out top research in this field. Dr Jon Paul Bingham used to "milk" C. purpurascens on a regular basis in order to extract a few microliters of crude venom each time. HPLC/MS study of these crude extracts have shown that the "venom" is a very complex mixture of many substance. Several types of conotoxins have been isolated from these extracts. They are oligopeptides, which are classified depending upon the presence, absence and number of S-S bonds (loops) in the oligopeptide. The proteic nature makes feasible to use the natural venom as template or model for the synthesis in the lab or industry of the same substance in gram-scale quantities. Thus, Ziconotide is essentially the alpha conotoxin of C. magus. Alternatively, it is possible to work just with the genes that codify the particular conotoxin peptide, so it is not even necessary to mess with the venom extracts. Every class of conotoxin has its specific target in the mammals organism, and hence different applications can be developed. If I remember it well, Ziconotide is an alternative to opiaceous drugs in the treatment of chronic pain in terminal patients. It is not addictive like morphine or its derivatives, however it has to be injected directly to the spine of the patient in order to be effectively delivered. AS more research is done, we will for sure know further medical applications of these interesting biomolecules. Just in case anyone might think that this sort of research may jeopardise the future of cone species, that is not true. The conotoxins are synthetic, and one single specimen of cone or just a few specimens are sufficient to provide information about the gene sequences of the peptides thanks to the modern molecular biology techniques. Fortunately, nobody is going to kill one or two metric tons of cones for the sake of extracting one gram of conotoxin! Warmest regards, Merry Christmas and Prosperous New Year to all Manuel Jimenez Tenorio ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [log in to unmask] - a forum for informal discussions on molluscs To leave this list, click on the following web link: http://listserv.uga.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=conch-l&A=1 Type your email address and name in the appropriate box and click leave the list. ----------------------------------------------------------------------