Bombesinnona peptides

Research & Evidence

“Bombesinnona peptide” is a name that surfaces in chemical analyses of kambô — the dried skin secretion of the Amazonian giant monkey frog Phyllomedusa bicolor. A 2017 profiling of a kambô sample reported it alongside bombesin and phyllolitorin ^{1,2Reference 1Thompson et al. · 2022ReviewReview of the physiological effects of Phyllomedusa bicolor skin secretion peptides on humans receiving KambôReference 2Sacco et al. · 2022The Amazonian kambô frog Phyllomedusa bicolor: current knowledge on biology, phylogeography, toxinology, ethnopharmacology and medical aspects}. It belongs to the bombesin family of peptides: short amphibian-skin sequences structurally related to the mammalian gastrin-releasing peptide (GRP) and neuromedin B, which act as agonists at the bombesin/GRP receptor family.

Pharmacologically, the bombesin-like peptides of this group share a characteristic profile: they stimulate gastric-acid and pancreatic secretion, contract gastrointestinal and other smooth muscle, and — in animal studies — suppress food and alcohol intake, all consistent with GRP-receptor agonism ^{1,3Reference 1Thompson et al. · 2022ReviewReview of the physiological effects of Phyllomedusa bicolor skin secretion peptides on humans receiving KambôReference 3Yasuhara et al. · 1983Phyllolitorins: a new family of bombesin-like peptides from the skin of Phyllomedusa sauvagei. — description of the phyllolitorin (bombesin-like) family and its gastrin-releasing-peptide-type activity}. In P. bicolor skin the dominant member of the wider family is phyllolitorin, and bombesin-related peptides such as this one occur only in trace amounts; much of the acute physiological response people report from kambô is attributed to the more abundant peptides in the secretion — the caeruleins, sauvagine, dermorphins and deltorphins — rather than to the bombesins ^{1Reference 1Thompson et al. · 2022ReviewReview of the physiological effects of Phyllomedusa bicolor skin secretion peptides on humans receiving Kambô}.

The class remains loosely defined. Beyond its membership in the bombesin family and its detection in kambô, little is firmly established about “bombesinnona peptide” as an individual, well-characterised molecule; its specific receptor affinity, potency and effects in humans have not been separately studied. It should be read as a family label rather than a single defined compound.

References

1. Thompson, C., & Williams, M. L. (2022). Review of the physiological effects of Phyllomedusa bicolor skin secretion peptides on humans receiving Kambô. Drug Science, Policy and Law, 8. — inventory of kambô peptides (caerulein, sauvagine, dermorphin, deltorphins, bombesin-like peptides) and their physiological effects.
2. Sacco, M. A., et al. (2022). The Amazonian kambô frog Phyllomedusa bicolor: current knowledge on biology, phylogeography, toxinology, ethnopharmacology and medical aspects. Frontiers in Pharmacology, 13, 997318. — chemical characterisation of the skin secretion.
3. Yasuhara, T., et al. (1983). Phyllolitorins: a new family of bombesin-like peptides from the skin of Phyllomedusa sauvagei. — description of the phyllolitorin (bombesin-like) family and its gastrin-releasing-peptide-type activity.