Written by Mahee Mishra
Edited by Shania Sheth and Sharon Park
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Hi everyone! Starting off our Animals in Healthcare series is this article on the use of Frog Skin in Antibiotics, by Mahee Mishra. Read on to learn about how frogs can play an important role in medicine, and how they can improve the treatment of many diseases. Happy Reading!
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One may assume that frogs do not contribute to many benefits to the environment, or to humans, however, that is not the case. Frogs can be highly beneficial to us, specifically their skin. If you take a closer look, frog skin can be used as antibiotics and also be a form of treatment for diseases such as cancer, AIDS, COVID-19, Asthma, Allergies, etc.
Although frog skin antibiotics can give similar treatments as those of other antibiotics, it has its own unique benefits. Some include the fact that frog skin can become an alternative to our conventional anti-infective antibiotics. It is possible that some antibiotics may not work on some people, in cases as such, an alternative (frog skin) can be of great use to achieve good health. There is still more research to be done in regard to this topic, however, information discovered till now seems to be promising.
The Therapeutic Promises:
In the past years alone, thousands of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) through skin secretion have been reported. In fact, each frog species is responsible for about ten to twenty peptides. Why is this beneficial? This is beneficial because these AMPs are greatly effective in fighting against bacteria, fungi, infections, yeasts, etc. AMPs destroy the plasma membranes of these bacteria and destroy them completely. Not only that, but frog antibiotics are also highly cost effective in comparison to other antibiotics available!
Frog Skin with Diseases:
As research towards frog skins has increased throughout the years, scientists have discovered that the two proteins secreted by frog skin, one that “switched on” angiogenesis and one that “switches it off” can be used for the treatment of cancer and many other diseases. Angiogenesis helps with the development of blood vessels, so if frog skin has the capability to turn it on or off, it can be useful for putting a stop to the spread of diseases in the body when the blood vessels start to get damaged.
Fun fact: Scientists also believe that frog skin can have the power to turn cancer into a form of chronic illness rather than a terminal illness.
As a whole, using frog skin can be a helpful change to the treatments of many conditions that humans face. Since it can lead to many benefits and is a cost-effective product, frog skin can be a great replacement for some antibiotics in the healthcare world. With more time and money put into the development of this topic, our healthcare system can change for the better.
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Thanks for reading the first article in our Animals in Health series! We hope you learned about how frogs can be the key to help humans treat many diseases.
If you liked reading this article, please check out our article on Insomnia, written by Salina Shafi.
Thanks for stopping by and see you next time! - Mahee and the Writing Committee :)
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Citations:
P; L. A. N. (n.d.). Antimicrobial peptides from Frog Skin: Biodiversity and therapeutic promises. Frontiers in bioscience (Landmark edition). Retrieved October 26, 2022, from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27100511/
MediLexicon International. (n.d.). Frog Skin could help treat cancer and other diseases. Medical News Today. Retrieved October 27, 2022, from https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/227934#1