maitotoxin

It was later shown that maitotoxin is actually produced by Gambierdiscus toxicus.

It is thought that maitotoxin leads to the formation of pores on these ion channels.

These toxins include ciguatoxin, maitotoxin, scaritoxin and palytoxin.

It produces maitotoxin.

Maitotoxin is known to activate cytosolic calcium-activated proteases calpain-1 and calpain-2, contributing to necrosis.

Maitotoxin is so potent that it has been demonstrated that an intraperitoneal injection of 0.13 g/kg was lethal in mice.

The toxicity of maitotoxin to mice is the highest for nonprotein toxins: the LD50 is 50 ng/kg.

Maitotoxin includes 32 ether rings, 22 methyls, 28 hydroxyls, and 2 sulfuric acid esters and has an amphipathic structure.

Palytoxin is an intense vasoconstrictor, and is considered to be one of the most toxic non-peptide substances known, second only to maitotoxin in terms of toxicity in mice.

Maitotoxin was named from the ciguateric fish Ctenochaetus striatus-called "maito" in Tahiti-from which maitotoxin was isolated for the first time.

These symptoms are due to the cramping of arterial walls caused by maitotoxin Ciguatoxin lowers the threshold for opening voltage-gated sodium channels in synapses of the nervous system.

However, Gallimore and Spencer recently questioned the structure of maitotoxin at a single ring-junction (the J-K junction), based purely on biosynthetic considerations and their general model for marine polyether biogenesis.

Background Maitotoxin (MTX), one of the most potent marine toxins known, is found in the "red-tide" dinoflagellate, Gambierdiscus toxicus, and is responsible in part for Ciguatera seafood poisoning.

Its activity has been shown to be induced and/or increased by low intracellular potassium concentrations, viruses e.g. influenza A and Neisseria gonorrhoeae, bacterial toxins e.g. nigericin and maitotoxin, and most notably, crystallized endogenous molecules.

Background Recent studies have shown that maitotoxin (MTX), a potent cytolytic agent isolated from the dinoflagellate Gambierdiscus toxicus, is an important new molecular tool for the study of oncotic (necrotic) cell death [ 1 2 ] .