Anthony T. Tu

M. Carolyn Hardegree

Bacterial Toxins

Handbook of Natural Toxins

This book looks at the latest information on a number of natural toxins, narcotics, and doping agents derived from marine, fungal, microbial, plant and animal origins. It examines the diversity of chemical classes among natural toxins and venoms as well as the biological effect and diverse action of toxicosis from these materials. There is a section on forensic toxicology that details selected synthetic toxins and several chapters on the biological effect of nerve agents such as sarin, which was used on human victims in the 1994 and 1995 subway attacks in Japan.

Biological Implications

Natural and Selected Synthetic Toxins

Bal Ram Singh

From beach encounters, aquaculture perils, and processed-food poisoning to snake bites and biological warfare, natural toxins seem never to be far from the public's sight. A better understanding of toxins in terms of their origin, structure, structure-function relation ships, mechanism of action, and detection and diagnosis is of utmost importance to human and animal food safety, nutrition, and health. In addition, it is now clear that many of the toxins can be used as scientific tools to explore the molecular mechanism of several biological processes, be it a mechanism involved in the function of membrane channels, exocytosis, or cytotoxicity. Several of the natural toxins have also been approved as therapeutic drugs, which has made them of interest to several pharmaceutical companies. For example, botulinum neurotoxins, which have been used in studies in the field of neurobiology, have also been used directly as therapeutic drugs against several neuromus cular diseases, such as strabismus and blepherospasm. Toxins in combination with modem biotechnological approaches are also being investigated for their potential use against certain deadly medical problems. For example, a combination of plant toxin ricin and antibodies is being developed for the treatment of tumors. The great potential of natural toxins has attracted scientists of varying backgrounds-pure chemists to cancer biologists-to the study of fundamental aspects of the actions of these toxins.

Anthony T. Tu

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