Palytoxin - Mario Jean

Source: Flickr, http://www.flickr.com/photos/drthompson/279258338/

What is it? Palytoxin is the most poisonous naturally occurring poison on the face of the planet (1). It is found in the soft coral of tropical areas of the Pacific Ocean such as Hawaii in “Zoanthids,” as can be seen above (2)(3).

Where did it come from? There is a legend among Hawaiians which says that many years ago, villagers killed the shark god because he was thought to be responsible for the death of their loved ones. They then strew his parts into the ocean, and it is believed that is where his parts went, sickness followed for any one who went near that ocean pool (4).

What are its properties? Its chemical formula is C129H223N3O54 (3) which is also the second

largest natural carbon chain known (4). It dissolves well in water and is a white powdery solid (4).

How poisonous is it? Ricin is a very poisonous substance and is quite well known due to its frequent usage on AMC’s TV series “Breaking Bad.” If 22 micrograms of it were injected into a rat, there would be a 50% chance of survival (6). If it were palytoxin to be injected, it would only require 0.63 micrograms to produce a 50% chance of survival (1). This means that palytoxin is 35 times more deadly than ricin when injected into a rat.

What are the symptoms? High doses can produce poor muscle control, convulsions, breathing difficulty, and death within minutes (7). The rapid death is contributed to heart failure.

What to do? In the very unlikely event that a person was poisoned with palytoxin, a person would need to be injected with a vastrodilator almost immediately to prevent the blood vessels from constricting (8). Call 911.

How does it work? It works by disrupting the sodium and potassium pumps which create various concentrations of ions (7). These concentration gradients are normally used to transport nutrients to the cells, but without them, many complications occur.

Is palytoxin useful in any way? Because of the affect that palytoxin has on the ion pumps in cells, it is used to help understand those pumps better (9).

References

1. Ramos, V., Vasconcelos, V. (2010). Palytoxin and analogs: biological and ecological effects. Marine Drugs, 8(7), 2021-2037. doi:10.3390/md8072021

2. Deeds, J. R., Handy, S. M., White, K. D., Reimer, J., D. (2011). Palytoxin found in palythoa sp. zoanthids sold in home aquarium trade. National Center for Biotechnology Information, 4(6), 4. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0018235

3. palytoxin. (2011). In The American Heritage Science Dictionary. Retrieved from http://library.mtroyal.ca:2173/entry/hmsciencedict/palytoxin

4. Vale, C. Ares, I. (2008). Phycotoxins: chemistry and biochemistry. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell. pp 95.

5. Polytoxin - compound summary. (n.d.). National Center for Biotechnology Information. Retrieved from http://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/summary/summary.cgi?cid=45027797#itabs-2d

6. Alexander, J., Benford, D., Cockburn, A., Cravedi, J. P., Dogliotti, E., Domenico, A. D...Verger, P. (2008). Ricin as undesirable substances in animal feed. European Food Safety Authority. doi:10.2903/j.efsa.2008.726

7. Botana, L. M. (2010). Seafood and freshwater toxins: pharmacology, physiology and detection. New York, NY: CRC Press

8. Vick, J. A., Wiles, J., S. (1975). The mechanism of action and treatment of palytoxin poisoning. Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology, (32), 2. pp 214-223. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0041-008X(75)90026-5

9. Palytoxin. (n.d.). Sigma-Aldridge. Retrieved from http://www.sigmaaldrich.com/etc/medialib/docs/Sigma/Product_Information_Sheet/1/p5183pis.Par.0001.File.tmp/p5183pis.pdf