Extraction method of scorpion venom

When provoked, adult live scorpions expel venom from the poison sac out of defensive or attacking instincts. The extraction of scorpion venom is based on this principle. At present, the commonly used methods of manual collection of scorpion venom are tail-cutting method, artificial stimulation method and electrical stimulation method.

1. Tail-cutting method is a simple and extensive method of collecting poison. First of all, cut off the tail segment (poison capsule) of the live scorpion with scissors, collect the venom gland completely, grind it first, then extract it with distilled water or normal saline, centrifuge and concentrate the supernatant, and get the dry powder of scorpion venom after drying.

The advantages of the tail-cutting method are: simple and easy, fast and large amount of poison collection; its disadvantage is that because the tail segment of the collected scorpion has been cut off, it is impossible to continue to produce poison, it can only be used once, and the content of impurities in the dry powder of scorpion venom is high; in addition, the scorpion body after extraction is incomplete and can not be processed into the whole scorpion, which seriously affects its medicinal value and economic value.

2. Artificial stimulation can be used to collect scorpion venom in order to overcome the deficiency of tail-cutting method, that is, to induce scorpion to produce and detoxify scorpion for many times without destroying the integrity of scorpion.

Scorpions have an instinctive defense against enemies, that is, when they prey or defend themselves, they release toxins to defend themselves. Artificial stimulation is to make use of this characteristic to collect scorpion venom. Hold the scorpion in section 5 of its rear abdomen with a clip, gently hit its head, chest or foreabdomen with a thin rod-shaped tool, and the attacked scorpion instinctively expels venom from the end of the poison needle. It can also be collected with two clips: one clip holds section 5 of the scorpion's rear abdomen, and the other clip holds a tentacle, and the scorpion will detoxify.

The venom is discharged by artificial stimulation, and the venom can be caught in a test tube at this time. You can also directly clamp the test tube with a clip and directly stimulate the tail of the scorpion with the mouth of the test tube to obtain venom.

Although the artificial stimulation method overcomes the disadvantages of the tail-cutting method, and the obtained venom is clear and transparent, it can collect poison many times without harming the individual, but the working efficiency is low, the amount of venom collected is small, and the safety factor is small, so it is not suitable for large-scale extraction of scorpion venom.