A marine cone snail has sleep-inducing venom that could be used to treat sleep disorders. Scientists who discovered the compound say it shows promise for therapeutic use to treat sleep disorders. The sleep-inducing compound was discovered by a team of two scientists from the Indian Institute of Science during an attempt to isolate and identify the various components of this marine snail’s venom. Tests were conducted by injecting mice with a pure solution of one of the peptides in saline. The peptide caused the mice to fall asleep within four minutes of being injected and kept them asleep for at least two hours. On increasing the dosage to about 2.5 times the previous dose the mice were found to sleep for five hours although they took a longer time to fall asleep – about 10 minutes instead of the previous four minutes. The researchers are now trying to find out why and how the peptide induces sleep in mice; and more importantly, whether it can be developed into a therapeutic drug for treatment of sleep disorders among humans. Field Field Field Field