Black widows may add bite to sex life

TEMUCO - Chilean researchers said yesterday that they aimed to develop a new pill to combat impotence that would have the added bonus of being a male contraceptive, based on experiments with the venom of black-widow spiders.

The spider, famed for the female's tendency to eat her mate after sex, makes a poison that can produce muscular seizure, acceleration of the heart and even death.

The scientists, working at University La Frontera in the southern Chilean city of Temuco, have been studying the effects of the venom's various properties for the past seven years. By isolating these elements, they could reproduce them synthetically in drugs to strengthen weak hearts and help men with erectile dysfunction.

Last November, they discovered by accident that one ingredient in spider venom could not only facilitate male erection in a way similar to the popular Viagra pill, but also render sperm infertile.

"This new drug could help the functioning of the male erection without having to worry about the partner getting pregnant," Fernando Romero, director of the research project, said outside his lab filled with the dangerous spiders caught in southern Chile.

The feared black widow has earned its place in Chilean folklore. A womaniser is said to have been "bitten by a spider".

Romero said the contraceptive effects of the drug could last up to 20 minutes, depending on the dosage. His team has won funding of US$970,000 from the government and the university for three years of research, which they hope will end with a drug patent. Brazilian experts and Chilean pharmaceutical company Laboratorio Silesia are also involved in the project.

Romero said they were aiming to eventually produce a drug that would have a similar effect as Viagra but without any potentially harmful side-effects such as an accelerated heart rate. He said they would isolate and eliminate the agents in the venom affecting the heart.

Viagra works by blocking an enzyme called PDE-5 that affects blood flow to the penis.

Several Chilean doctors contacted were slightly sceptical of the project before seeing scientific results but in general welcomed the research.

- REUTERS