Apamin is an 18 amino acid peptide neurotoxin found in apitoxin (bee venom). Dry bee venom consists of 2-3% of apamin. Apamin selectively blocks SK channels, a type of Ca2+-activated K+ channel expressed in the central nervous system. Toxicity is caused by only a few amino acids, these are cysteine1, lysine4, arginine13, arginine14 and histidine18. These amino acids are involved in the binding of apamin to the Ca2+-activated K+ channel. Due to its specificity for SK channels, apamin is used as a drug in biomedical research to study the electrical properties of SK channels and their role in the afterhyperpolarizations occurring immediately following an action potential.
The first symptoms of apitoxin (bee venom), that are now thought to be caused by apamin, were described back in 1936 by Hahn and Leditschke. Apamin was first isolated by Habermann in 1965 from Apis mellifera, the Western honey bee. Apamin was named after this bee. Bee venom contains many other compounds, like histamine, phospholipase A2, hyaluronidase, MCD peptide, and the main active component melittin. Apamin was separated from the other compounds by gel filtration and ion exchange chromatography.
I think I'm sophisticated
'cos I'm living my life like a good homo sapiens.
But all around me ev'rybody's multiplying
And they're walking round like flies man:
So I'm no better than the animals
Sitting in the cages in the zoo man,
'cos compared to the flowers and the birds
And the trees,
I am an APEMAN.
I think I'm so educated and I'm so civilized
'cos I'm a strict vegetarian. And with the over population
And inflation and starvation and the crazy politi-shians.
I don't feel safe in this world
no more. I don't wanna die in a nuclear war.
I want to sail away to a distant shore
And make like an APEMAN.
I'm an APEMAN
I'm an APE
APE MAN
I'm an APE MAN.
I'm a king-kong man
I'm a voodoo man
I'm a APE MAN.
'cos compared to the sun that sits in the sky,
Compared to the clouds as they roll by,
Compared to the bugs and the spiders and flies,
I am an APE MAN. La
la...
In man's evolution he created
the cities and the motor traffic rumble.
But give me half a chance and I be taking off me
Clothes and living in the jungle.
But the only time that I feel at ease is
Swinging up and down in a coconut tree.
what a life of luxury to be like an APE MAN.
I'm an APE MAN
I'm an APE
APE MAN
I'm an APE MAN.
I'm a king-kong man
I'm a voodoo man
I'm a Ape MAN.
I look out the window
but I can't see the sky
the air pollution is a fogging up my eyes,
I want to get out of this city alive
And make like an APE MAN.
Come and love me
be my APE MAN girl
And we'll be so happy in my APE MAN world.
I'm an APE MAN
I'm an APE
APE MAN
I'm an APE MAN.
I'm a king-kong man
I'm a voodoo man
I'm a APE MAN.
I'll be your Tarzan &
you'll be my Jane
I'll keep you warm and you'll keep me sane.
We'll sit in the trees and eat bananas