Honey bees have a sting which allows them to inject venomous substances into the body of an opponent or attacker. As the sting originates from a modified ovipositor, it only occurs in the female insect, and this is a defining feature of the bee species that belong to a subclade of the Hymenoptera called Aculeata. There is considerable interest in bee venom research, primarily because of an important subset of the human population who will develop a sometimes life threatening allergic response after a bee sting. However, the use of honey bee venom goes much further, with alleged healing properties in ancient therapies and recent research. The present paper aims to standardize selected methods for honey bee venom research. It covers different methods of venom collection, characterization and storage. Much attention was also addressed to the determination of the biological activity of the venom and its use in the context of biomedical research, more specifically venom allergy. Finally, the procedure for the assignment of new venom allergens has been presented. Las abejas meliferas tienen un aguijon que les permite inyectar sustancias venenosas en el cuerpo de un oponente o atacante. El aguijon es un ovipositor modificado que solo se manifiesta en el insecto hembra, siendo este una caracteristica que define a las especies de abejas que pertenecen al subclado de himenopteros llamada Aculeata. Hay un interes considerable en la investigacion del veneno de abeja, principalmente debido a que un porcentaje importante de la poblacion humana desarrollara una respuesta alergica - a veces mortal - a la picadura de abeja. Sin embargo, el uso del veneno de la abeja melifera abarca mucho mas, con presuntas propiedades curativas en terapias antiguas e investigaciones recientes. El presente trabajo tiene como objetivo estandarizar metodos seleccionados para la investigacion del veneno de las abejas meliferas. Cubre diferentes metodos de recoleccion, caracterizacion y almacenamiento de veneno. Tambien se presto mucha atencion a la determinacion de la actividad biologica del veneno y su uso en el contexto de la investigacion biomedica, mas especificamente la alergia al veneno. Finalmente, se ha presentado el procedimiento para la asignacion de nuevos alergenos de veneno.
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Honey bees have a sting which allows them to inject venomous substances into the body of an opponent or attacker. As the sting originates from a modified ovipositor, it only occurs in the female insect, and this is a defining feature of the bee species that belong to a subclade of the Hymenoptera called Aculeata. There is considerable interest in bee venom research, primarily because of an important subset of the human population who will develop a sometimes life threatening allergic response af...
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