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Leech secretions contain several bioactive substances with anti-inflammatory, anticoagulant and antimicrobial effects. [70] One active component of leech saliva is a small protein, hirudin. [72] It is widely used as an anticoagulant drug to treat blood-clotting disorders, and manufactured by recombinant DNA technology. [73] [74]
The price of leeches varied between one penny and threepence halfpenny each. In 1832 leeches accounted for 4.4% of the total hospital expenditure. The hospital maintained an aquarium for leeches until the 1930s. [15] The use of leeches began to become less widespread towards the end of the 19th century. [5]
The stomach connects to an intestine, followed by a colon, a rectum, and finally an anus located on the leech's back. M. decora, like all leeches, is hermaphroditic, and has ten testisacs and two ovisacs, in addition to male and female genital pores. First described by Thomas Say in 1824, the species is now placed in the genus Macrobdella.
Potentiates CNS sedatives, [3] chronic use might cause a reversible dry skin condition. [18] Khat: qat Catha edulis: Chronic liver dysfunction [3] [19] Kratom: Mitragyna speciosa: Hepatotoxicity [20] [19] Liquorice root Glycyrrhiza glabra: Hypokalemia, hypertension, arrhythmias, edema [5] Lobelia: asthma weed, pukeweed, vomit wort Lobelia inflata
Hirudin is a naturally occurring peptide in the salivary glands of blood-sucking leeches (such as Hirudo medicinalis) that has a blood anticoagulant property. [2] This is essential for the leeches' habit of feeding on blood, since it keeps a host's blood flowing after the worm's initial puncture of the skin.
Hirudo is a genus of leeches of the family Hirudinidae. It was described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae. [2] The two well-accepted species within the genus are: [3] Hirudo medicinalis Linnaeus, 1758; Hirudo nipponia Whitman, 1886
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Hirudinea, whose name means "leech-shaped" and whose best known members are leeches. [8] Marine species are mostly blood-sucking parasites, mainly on fish, while most freshwater species are predators. [13] They have suckers at both ends of their bodies, and use these to move rather like inchworms. [15]