I also did a search on google for "palytoxin" and had to look at the cached sites to see the data, but here are some quotes:
"Palytoxin acts at the cell membranes to make them permeable to cations - positively charged ions, typically sodium, potassium, and calcium. Many functions of cells depend upon controlling the flow of these ions in and out of the cell, so disrupting this traffic is very dangerous.
At the physiological level, the most sensitive target is the myocardium, or muscular component of the heart, and the primary effect is vasoconstriction or rapid narrowing of blood vessels in the heart and in the lungs. Another effect is hemolysis, or the destruction of the red blood cells. These three effects taken together cut off the oxygen supply and the victim suffocates. "
First off, if cell membranes become more permeable to cations (esp. potassium and calcium) this will cause a depolarization of the cell membrane, which leads to action potentials. These action potentials which are normally generated in specialized cells in the heart and then propogate throughout the myocardium cause the rhythmical beating. Only if the action potentials are generated in one locus is the heart coordinated. If, however, the entire myocardium were to be depoarized, this would more than likely lead to an arrhythmia, because instead of the specialized cells coordinating beating, any and every part of the heart would be generating action potentials. So, if this toxin works as quoted, you would die of a heart attack long before the vacoconstriction and hypoxia kill you.
Second, it is not the most lethal organic compound. Botulinum toxin (yes, botox) is the most powerful toxin. 1ug of the type A toxin is lethal in humans. Looking through my notes, I found a reporting of 5x10^9 mouse LD50/mg. I remember asking the professor who gave the lecture to clarify, because I couldn't believe the number could be true. It means that if 1 mg could be divided up evenly into 5 BILLION mice, half of that population would die. This would give an LD50 in mice at about .5pg.
Lastly, we have to remember that the skin does an awfully good job of stopping most compounds from entering. So, yes, if you were to inject Palytoxin or Botulinum toxin directly into your arteries, then I bet it would be quite lethal. In low concentrations on the surface of the skin, I doubt would do much of anything!
Iââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢m sorry for the rant, but I donââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t like seeing such an abuse of science and this was really just the tip of the criticism I had for some of the posts in this thread. I could write a novel for this!
Be careful when doing a google search, anyone can post anything (and this is proof of that
), but it certainly doesn't make it true!
Use your powerhead to start the siphon. first, no chance of drinking "the juice", and second, you don't end up with a mouthful of SW...
