Histrionicotoxin

Histrionicotoxins are a group of related toxins found in the skin of poison frogs from the Dendrobatidae family, notably Oophaga histrionica.^[1] It is likely that as with other poison frog alkaloids, histrionicotoxins are not manufactured by the amphibians, but absorbed from insects in their diet and stored in glands in their skin.^[2]

Histrionicotoxins are less powerful toxins compared to many of the other alkaloids found in poison frogs; however, they have an unusual chemical structure and a distinct mechanism of action, acting as a potent non-competitive antagonists of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, binding to a regulatory site on the delta subunit of the ion channel complex.^[3][4] They also have some affinity for sodium and potassium channels, although they are much less potent for these targets.^[5] The synthesis of histrionicotoxins and various homologues is synthetically challenging and has been the subject of many different attempts.^[6]

See also

• Pumiliotoxin

References

External links

• The Periodic Table of Videos (University of Nottingham)