Apitoxin

You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in German. (January 2018) Click [show] for important translation instructions. Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. Consider adding a topic to this template: there are already 1,975 articles in the main category, and specifying|topic= will aid in categorization. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing German Wikipedia article at [[:de:Bienengift]]; see its history for attribution. You may also add the template {{Translated|de|Bienengift}} to the talk page. For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.

Apitoxin or bee venom is the venom produced by the honey bee. It is a cytotoxic and hemotoxic bitter colorless liquid containing proteins, which may produce local inflammation. It may have similarities to sea nettle toxin.^[1]

Bee venom is a complex mixture of proteins and smaller molecules.

The main component is melittin, which amounts to 52% of venom peptides^[2] One of the main allergens is phospholipase A₂, which amounts to 12% and is an enzyme that catalyzes the hydrolysis of phospholipids, causing degradation of cell membranes.^[3] Adolapin^[4] contributes 2–5% of the peptides.^[5][6] Further protein components include apamin (2%), a neurotoxin, hyaluronidase (2%), which dilates blood vessels, increasing their permeability and facilitating the spread of the venom,^[3] mast cell degranulating peptide (2%), tertiapin, and secapin.^[7] Small molecules in bee venom include histamine (0.1–1%), dopamine and noradrenaline.^[8]

Mark Crislip, a practicing infectious disease specialist, examined the claims that bee venom can treat arthritis. He was unable to "find a clean, i.e., a non-TCPM based, randomized, placebo-controlled study of bee venom in humans for the treatment [of] arthritis."^[9]

Bee venom is also considered ineffective for the treatment or prevention of cancer, with no clinical studies to date supporting such effects.^[10] According to the American Cancer Society, there is no scientific evidence that apitherapy or bee venom therapy can treat or change the course of cancer or any other disease.^[11] Clinical trials have shown that apitherapy is ineffective in treating multiple sclerosis or any other disease, and can exacerbate multiple sclerosis symptoms.^[12]

• Apitherapy
• Bee sting
• Beekeeping
• Hive management
• Honeybee

• Apitoxin at the U.S. National Library of Medicine Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)