What is TTX?
Tetrodotoxin (TTX) is a potent toxin that specifically binds to voltage gated sodium channels. TTX binding physically blocks the flow of sodium ions through the channel, thereby preventing action potential (AP) generation and propagation.
What is PAH in chemistry?
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are a class of chemicals that occur naturally in coal, crude oil, and gasoline. They also are produced when coal, oil, gas, wood, garbage, and tobacco are burned. Naphthalene is a PAH that is produced commercially in the United States to make other chemicals and mothballs.
What is Fugu Fugu?
Fugu means puffer fish in Japanese (Shino is Japanese). As fish go, puffer fish are little characters. They’re not the world’s best swimmers and they have big googly eyes and are really kind of goofy looking, but are also friendly, social and cute.
What is meant by polynuclear hydrocarbons?
A polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbon is a hydrocarbon made up of fused aromatic ring molecules. These rings share one or more sides and contain delocalized electrons. Another way to consider PAHs is molecules made by fusing two or more benzene rings.
What are isolated polynuclear hydrocarbons?
A polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) is a hydrocarbon—a chemical compound containing only carbon and hydrogen—that is composed of multiple aromatic rings. The simplest of such chemicals are naphthalene, having two aromatic rings, and the three-ring compounds anthracene and phenanthrene.
Where is TTX found?
DESCRIPTION: Tetrodotoxin is an extremely potent poison (toxin) found mainly in the liver and sex organs (gonads) of some fish, such as puffer fish, globefish, and toadfish (order Tetraodontiformes) and in some amphibian, octopus, and shellfish species.
Is TTX reversible?
Tetrodotoxin is a reversible, potent, selective and high affinity inhibitor of voltage gated sodium channels Nav 1.6, 1.1, 1.3, 1.4, 1.2 and 1.7 (IC50 values are 2.3 nM, 4.1 nM, 5.3 nM, 7.6 nM, 14 nM and 36 nM, respectively).
Is fugu legal in the US?
Japanese puffer fish is a delicacy to fans of sushi, where it is called “fugu,” but it is largely banned in the U.S. and, where permitted, it can only be served by those with a license. The European Union actually bans it all together.