Toxin Totally Explained

Everything about Toxin totally explained

A toxin (Greek: τοξικόν, toxikon, lit. (poison) for use on arrows) is a poisonous substance produced by living cells or organisms that's active at very low concentrations. Toxins can be small molecules, peptides, or proteins and are capable of causing disease on contact or absorption with body tissues by interacting with biological macromolecules such as enzymes or cellular receptors. Toxins vary greatly in their severity, ranging from usually minor and acute (as in a bee sting) to almost immediately deadly (as in botulinum toxin).
Biotoxins vary greatly in purpose and mechanism, and can be highly complex (the venom of the cone snail contains dozens of small proteins, each targeting a specific nerve channel or receptor), or relatively small protein.

Use

Biotoxins in nature have two primary functions:

Predation (spider, snake, scorpion, jellyfish, wasp)
Defense (bee, poison dart frog, deadly nightshade, honeybee, wasp)

Some of the more well known types of biotoxins include:

Cyanotoxins, produced by cyanobacteria

Hemotoxins target and destroy red blood cells, and are transmitted through the bloodstream. Organisms that possess hemotoxins include:

Pit Vipers, such as rattlesnakes.

Necrotoxins cause necrosis (for example, death) in the cells they encounter and destroy all types of tissue. Necrotoxins spread through the bloodstream, but infect all tissues. In humans, skin and muscle tissues are most sensitive to necrotoxins. Organisms that possess necrotoxins include:

The brown recluse or "fiddle back" spider.
Necrotizing fasciitis (the "flesh eating" bacteria)

Neurotoxins primarily affect the nervous systems of animals. Organisms that possess neurotoxins include:

The Black Widow and other widow spiders.
Most scorpions.
The box jellyfish.
Elapid snakes.
The Cone Snail.

Ricinis is a plant toxin found in the castor bean plant.

Environmental toxins

Non-technical usage

When used non-technically, the term "toxin" is often applied to any toxic substances. Toxic substances not of biological origin are more properly termed poisons. Many non-technical and lifestyle journalists also follow this usage to refer to toxic substances in general, though some specialist journalists at publishers such as the BBC and The Guardian maintain the distinction that toxins are only those produced by living organisms.
In the context of alternative medicine the term is often used non-specifically to refer to any substance claimed to cause ill health, ranging anywhere from trace amounts of pesticides to common food items like refined sugar or additives like artificial sweeteners and MSG.(External Link

)Further Information

Get more info on 'Toxin'.

External Link Exchanges

Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:

<a href="http://toxin.totallyexplained.com">Toxin Totally Explained</a>

Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned.