Epibatidine, the natural alkaloid isolated from the skin of the Ecuadorian rainforest poison-dart frog, Epipedobates tricolor and some of its synthetically prepared analogs are strong selective agonists of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptors. All of these substances have an analgesic effect and could be used in medical practice. This is very promising for medicine in the fight against pain as well as against dementia, because nicotinic agonists have been found to improve the performance of a variety of memory tasks in rodents and they are probably beneficial in Alzheimer’s disease treatment.

Keywords: Toxin; Epibatidine; Nicotinic acetylcholine agonist; Alzheimer’s disease; Pain