Amphibians Flashcards
What are the general properties of the amphibian poisons?
lipophilic, weak bases that are not synthesized directly by the amphibian
What are the amphibians poison glands?
parotoid glands and skin eruptions
What is the purpose of the salamandrid poison and where it is secreted from?
preventing fungal and bacterial infections, and secreted from skin
What are the two toxins that are produced by salamanders?
tetrodotoxin and samandarines
What species of salamanders have the tetrodotoxin?
taricha, notophthalmus, tritutus, cynops, ambystoma tigrium
What are the samandarines MOA?
endogenous neurotoxin suspected to affect sodium ion channels
What are the symptoms associated with samadarine poisoning?
causes convulsions and seizures, localized anaesthetic effects
What are common frog poisons?
batrachotoxins, histrionicotoxins, pumiliotoxins
What is batrachotoxins MOA?
depolarizes nerve and muscle membranes by stabilizing sodium channels
What are the histrionicotoxins MOA and symptoms?
non-competitive blocker of nicotinic pathways, dermal irritation
What genus and families of frogs have histrionicotoxins?
dendrobates and mantellidae
What frogs have pumiliotoxins?
dendrobatidae, mantellidae, bufonidae and myobatrachidae
Hoe do frogs get their toxin?
through diet
What frogs produce batrachotoxins?
phyllobates
Rank the frog toxins from highest toxicity to lowest
batrachotoxins, pumiliotoxins and histrionicotoxins
What are the two types that toxins toads may contain?
indolealkylamines and bufogenins
What are the two indolealkylamines and their MOA?
Bufotenin and Bufrotenidine, hallucinogenic that acts on serotonin receptors in brain
What are the bufogenins toxins?
bufagin, bufotalin and bufotoxin
What are the bufogenins MOA?
cardiac glycosides that inhibit the enzyme Na/K+ ATPase
What are the symptoms arising from bufogenins?
neurological and cardiac symptoms, cell cycle arrest and apoptosis
What are the poisonous toads?
Colorado River Toads and Cane Toads
