Medicinal Leeches and Hirudotherapy

Gödekmerdan, Ahmet; Arusan, Suat; Bayar, Batu; Sağlam, Naim

doi:10.5152/tpd.2011.60

Cited by 24 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…The US-FDA (U.S. Food and Drug Administration) approved the use of leeches in plastic and reconstructive surgery in 2004 (Gödekmerdan et al, 2011;Mumcuoglu, 2014). Legislation on "Traditional, Supplementary and Alternative Medicine Practices", including use of leeches in medicine, went into effect in 2014 in Turkey (OG.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Ceylan¹,

Çetinkaya²,

Küçükkara³

et al. 2015

Turk. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci.

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The aim of the study was to investigate the reproduction efficiency of a medicinal leech Hirudo verbana Carena, 1820. Totally 25 gravid medicinal leeches weighted 5.70±3.22 g were used. The leeches deposited 3.20±1.87 cocoons by losing 23.46±5.42% in body weight in every cocooning at 9.67±3.68 days intervals. The cocoons, having a weight 0.93±0.38 g, diameter 13.81±2.26 mm and length 21.44±3.81 mm, had 12.29±5.14 offspring weighted 29.11±13.62 mg. It was determined the negative correlation between the adult leeches weight and the weight loss percentage after each cocoon deposition, between the adult leeches weight and the cocoon deposition frequency, and between the number of offspring and the mean weight of them. The positive correlation was found between the adult leech weights and the number of the laid cocoons, between the adult leech weight and the laid cocoon weight, and between the cocoon weight and the number of offspring. H. verbena shows strong reproduction effort, it can reproduce even loosing 70% their initial weights. Reproduction success of the medicinal leech is strictly correlated with the mature individual weight. Therefore, heavier individuals should be chosen and used in artificial production procedures. Collection of heavier specimens from natural habitats must be prohibited to conserve natural populations Keywords: Reproduction efficiency, medicinal leech, Hirudo verbana, cocoon, offspring size and number. Tıbbi Sülük Hirudo verbana Carena, 1820 Türünün Üreme Verimliliği ÖzetBu çalışmada tıbbi sülük Hirudo verbana Carena, 1820 türünün üreme verimliliği araştırılmıştır. Çalışmada ağırlıkları 5.70±3.22 g olan 25 adet döllü sülük kullanılmıştır. Sülüklerden 9.67±3.68 gün arayla, her bir kokonlama sonrasında %23.46±5.42 oranında ağırlık kaybı ile 3.20±1.87 adet kokon elde edilmiştir. Kokonların 0.93±0.38 g ağırlık, 13.81±2.26 mm çap ve 21.44±3.81 mm uzunlukta oldukları ve 29.11±13.62 mg ağırlığa sahip 12.29±5.14 adet yavru birey içerdikleri belirlenmiştir. Anaç sülük ağırlığı ile her kokonlama sonrası yüzde ağırlık kaybı ve kokonlama frekansı arasında ve kokondan çıkan yavru sayısı ile yavru bireylerin ortalama ağırlıkları arasında negatif korelasyonlar bulunmuştur. Buna karşın, anaç sülük ağırlığı ile bırakılan kokon sayısı ve kokon büyüklüğü arasında ve kokon ağırlığı ile yavru birey sayısı arasında pozitif korelasyonlar bulunmuştur. H. verbana türünün başlangıç ağırlığının yaklaşık %70'ini kaybetmesine rağmen güçlü bir üreme eforu gösterdiği belirlenmiştir. Türün üreme verimliliğinin anaç ağırlığı ile güçlü şekilde bağlantılı olduğu görülmüştür. Bu nedenle yapay üretim koşullarında ağır bireylerin tercih edilmesi ve doğal popülasyonların korunması için ağır bireylerin toplanmasının engellenmesi önerilmektedir.Anahtar Kelimeler: Üreme verimliliği, tıbbi sülük, Hirudo verbana, kokon, yavru büyüklüğü ve sayısı.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Untitled

Ceylan¹,

Çetinkaya²,

Küçükkara³

et al. 2015

Turk. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci.

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“…There are over 100 bioactive substances found in leech salivary glands 15 . Some can function as analgesics, vasodilators, bacteriostatics, anti-inflammatories, anti-edematous, and anti-coagulants 15 .…”

Section: Hirudotherapy For Knee Osteoarthritismentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploiting leech saliva to treat osteoarthritis: A provocative perspective

Cooper

Mologne

2017

Journal of Traditional and Complementary Medicine

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Plant and animal-derived products are crucial components in complementary and alternative medicine. Although modern medicine has provided numerous innovations and advancements, these often fail to reveal new and dependable, inexpensive treatments nor real cures that are relatively free of adverse side effects. We present evidence that hirudotherapy, which utilizes leeches, improves certain diseases, including osteoarthritis. Osteoarthritis, a disease in joints, could benefit from use of medicinal peptides found in leech saliva, components of its immune system.

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“…The mouth of the leech has three jaws; each has about 100 tiny teeth, in addition to a posterior suction device, which is used for stability. Leech therapy involves an initial painless bite, then sucking about 5 to 15 mL of blood by dissecting the skin with its sharp teeth (Godekmerdan et al 2011) and simultaneously injecting of a cocktail of several medicinally useful bioactive molecules in their saliva (Zaidi et al 2011). Once they are detached, the site of bite continues to bleed for several hours (Ikizceli et al 2005).…”

Section: Leechmentioning

confidence: 99%

Helminthes and insects: maladies or therapies

El-Tantawy

2014

Parasitol Res

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By definition, parasites cause harm to their hosts. But, considerable evidence from ancient traditional medicine has supported the theory of using parasites and their products in treating many diseases. Maggots have been used successfully to treat chronic, long-standing, infected wounds which failed to respond to conventional treatment by many beneficial effects on the wound including debridement, disinfection, and healing enhancement. Maggots are also applied in forensic medicine to estimate time between the death and discovery of a corpse and in entomotoxicology involving the potential use of insects as alternative samples for detecting drugs and toxins in death investigations. Leeches are segmented invertebrates, famous by their blood-feeding habits and used in phlebotomy to treat various ailments since ancient times. Leech therapy is experiencing resurgence nowadays in health care principally in plastic and reconstructive surgery. Earthworms provide a source of medicinally useful products with potential antimicrobial, antiviral, and anticancer properties. Lumbrokinases are a group of fibrinolytic enzymes isolated and purified from earthworms capable of degrading plasminogen-rich and plasminogen-free fibrin and so can be used to treat various conditions associated with thrombotic diseases. Helminth infection has been proved to have therapeutic effects in both animal and human clinical trials with promising evidence in treating many allergic diseases and can block the induction of or reduce the severity of some autoimmune disorders as Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis. What is more, venomous arthropods such as scorpions, bees, wasps, spiders, ants, centipedes, snail, beetles, and caterpillars. The venoms and toxins from these arthropods provide a promising source of natural bioactive compounds which can be employed in the development of new drugs to treat diseases as cancer. The possibility of using these active molecules in biotechnological processes can make these venoms and toxins a valuable and promising source of natural bioactive compounds. The therapeutic use of helminthes and insects will be of great value in biomedicine and further studies on insect toxins will contribute extensively to the development of Biomedical Sciences.

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Medicinal Leeches and Hirudotherapy

Cited by 24 publications

References 13 publications

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Exploiting leech saliva to treat osteoarthritis: A provocative perspective

Helminthes and insects: maladies or therapies

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