Luke O'Neill

speaker

4,397 appearances 23 recordings 2 series first heard Apr 2026 last heard 5d ago

Luke O'Neill’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

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Recordings per month over the last 12 months — 23 in all, peaking in Jul 2026 with 6.

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Show Me the Science with Luke O'Neill · The Science of Stings · 10 Sep 2026 podcast

It clips off fats in your cells and releases things called prostaglandins and leukotrienes.

So we have it ourselves.

Our own bodies have phospholipase A2 to make these things called prostaglandins.

And lo and behold, it's in the wasp venom as well.

And it chops up these little fats, these things called phospholipids, releasing things called prostaglandins and leukotrienes.

Now, there are two factors that again cause the pain and the inflammation.

So already you're triggering this inflammatory response.

And again, they make nerve endings worse.

sting as well and sore.

And so phospholipidase 2 is a key component in wasp venom.

And then an enzyme, another enzyme called hyaluronidase, that breaks down hyaluronic acid.

And again, that's causing things to be made that drive inflammation.

And then finally, proteases.

they're enzymes that chop up proteins.

And some of these proteins, they get chopped up.

Again, they're promoting some of these inflammatory processes.

So remember, things are very complex, aren't they?

And the bottom line for a wasp sting is the pain, the redness, the swelling, the inflammation in the site of the sting.

And it's being driven by those four components.

in the wasp venom.

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