Coral, a living organism, releases
palytoxin if attacked.
It is believed to be one of only a few recorded cases of
palytoxin poisoning within the UK.
The
palytoxin, which was emitted from the flora in the tank, causes severe respiratory distress
Katie Stevenson and her family who were taken to hospital with a deadly
palytoxin after cleaning coral in their fish tank
Matthews, his girlfriend, mother, father, sister and her boyfriend, and four firefighters were rushed to the hospital for treatment after inhaling the poisonous fumes, which was later revealed to be
palytoxin. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC),
palytoxin is "a potentially life-threatening toxin that can act via dermal, inhalation, and oral routes of exposure."
A specimen obtained from patient A's introduced coral, as well as a specimen obtained from the shop, were both positive for
palytoxin. An extended investigation identified seven additional Anchorage residents who appeared to have experienced acute palytoxin-related illness during the preceding 2 years.
Both cicutoxin from water hemlock and
palytoxin from marine organisms have unique gas chromatographic/mass spectrophotometric signatures and were eliminated as causative agents in the rare clusters of crayfish-transmitted Haff disease in China and Louisiana.
Fattorusso et al., "Putative
palytoxin and its new analogue, ovatoxin-a, in Ostreopsis ovata collected along the ligurian coasts during the 2006 toxic outbreak," Journal of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry, vol.
Ribosome-inactivating
palytoxin interacts with high affinity cell-surface receptors, including the [Na.sup.+], [K.sup.+]-ATPase, or [Na.sup.+]/H+ antiporter [35-37].
After a 60-year overview of the history and evolution of synthesis of natural products, sections on comparative design cover classics in terpenes and alkaloid synthesis, with an additional section on miscellaneous targets such as
palytoxin, brevetoxin B, and indinavir.
Maths expert Simon Wilson, 60, tried to use
palytoxin to make his death look like a heart attack and spare his family more pain.
For the scientists at Hawaii Biotechnology Group Inc., that poison--called
palytoxin in its modern incarnation--holds the promise of being a powerful agent against one of modern man's most stubborn opponents: cancer.