An Italian scientist and Nobel prize nominee, Vittorio Erspamer of the University of Rome was the first person to analyze Kambo in a laboratory.  

In 1986, he wrote that it contains a ‘fantastic chemical cocktail with potential medical applications, unequalled by any other amphibian’. The chemicals that he referred to were peptides - short chain amino acids that make up proteins in our body.  We are made of water, peptides, and protein. Currently there are over 70 Kambo patents lodged, mainly in the USA. While scientists have been able to isolate and synthesize some of the peptides in kambo, there is no substitute for the real thing.

Some of the peptides in kambo are neuropeptides, which means that they specifically affect the activity of the brain and body by communicating with neurons.  Insulin, oxytocin, and endorphins are examples of integral neuropeptides. Other peptides found in kambo are bioactive, composed of a specific chain of amino acids which perform a function that the body recognizes as beneficial. The body opens to kambo at a cellular level, allowing it to clean out deposits left in the cells by foreign substances with no stress to the cells. This combination of peptides is a unique key that unlocks the body, allowing kambo cross the blood-brain barrier rather than being filtered out by the body’s defense system. This makes kambo an extremely powerful way to reach and treat disease.  

the Peptides:

Kambo Peptides:

  • Produces contraction at the smooth muscle level and increases secretions of the entire gastrointestinal tract such as the salivary glands, stomach, small and large intestine, pancreas and gallbladder. These peptides work to induce the deep purge that takes place in a Kambo session.

  • Both are potent vasodilators, increasing the permeability of the blood-brain barrier for their own access, as well as for that of other active peptides. They also have antimicrobial and anti-fungal properties.

  • These peptides have chains of 40 amino acids with myotropic properties on the smooth muscles, producing a contraction of the colon and urinary bladder. They produce a drop in blood pressure accompanied by tachycardia. They stimulate the adrenal cortex and pituitary gland, contributing to greater sensory perception and increased resistance. Both peptides possess a great analgesic power, contributing to the increase of physical strength, the capacity to confront physical pain, stress, disease, and diminish the symptoms of fatigue. In the medical field, this family of peptides contributes to improved digestion and has analgesic properties against pain in the renal colic, pain due to peripheral vascular insufficiency and tumor pain.

  • Small peptides composed of 7 amino acids. They are selective agonists of the opiate receptors, 4000 times more potent than morphine and 40 times more potent than the endogenous endorphins.

  • These work on the human body through the adenosine receptors, a fundamental component throughout all human cellular fuel. These receptors may offer a target for the treatment of depression, stroke, and cognitive diseases such as Alzheimer’s Disease and Parkinson’s.

  • These peptides are part of a broad spectrum of antimicrobial peptides involved in the frog’s defence against microbial invasion. These are the first vertebrate peptides that show lethal effects against filamentous fungi responsible for severe opportunistic infections which accompany immunodeficiency syndrome and the use of immunosuppressive agents. They also show lethal effects against a broad spectrum of bacteria, fungi, yeasts, and protozoa.

    Several years of research carried out at the University of Paris have shown that peptides Dermaseptin B2 and B3 are effective in killing certain types of cancer cells. A researcher at Queens University in Belfast won a prestigious award for his ground-breaking work with cancer and Kambo. It’s action mechanism is produced by inhibiting the angiogenesis of tumor cells with selective cytotoxicity for these cells.

  • These peptides have similar properties and structure to human bradykinin. They are hypotensive, and due to producing vasodilation, they support contraction of the non-vascular smooth muscle, increase vascular permeability, and are related to the mechanism of inflammatory pain.

  • These peptides stimulate the secretion of hydrochloric acid by acting on the G cells of the stomach. They also increase pancreatic secretion, intestinal myoelectric activity, and smooth muscle contractility.

  • They stimulate gastric, bile, and pancreatic secretions, and certain smooth muscles. They could be used in the paralytic ileus and as a diagnostic medium in pancreatic dysfunction.

  • These are neuropeptides consisting of 4-14 amino acids, which are opening up new perspectives on how the human brain works.

Kambo’s bioactive peptides have a large variety of beneficial functions within the body, acting as vasodilators, anti-inflammatories, antimicrobials, blood-pressure regulators, stimulators of the pituitary gland, and much more. As research over the decades uncovered a mass of benefits from these peptides, pharmaceutical companies began to show interest in developing synthetic versions of the compounds. However due to Kambo’s complexity, no derived pharmaceuticals have been produced or come to market.