A potent neurotoxin found in the liver and ovaries of the Japanese pufferfish, Sphoeroides rubripes, other species of pufferfish, and certain newts; produces axonal blocks of the preganglionic cholinergic fibers and the somatic motor nerves. T. blocks voltage-gated Na+ channels in excitable tissues.
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te·tro·do·tox·in te-.trōd-ə-'täk-sən n a neurotoxin C11H17N3O8 that is found esp. in pufferfishes and that blocks nerve conduction by suppressing permeability of the nerve fiber to sodium ions
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n.
puffer-fish toxin, one of the most powerful known nerve toxins with a mortality of about 50%. There is no known antidote.
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tet·ro·do·tox·in (tetґro-do-tok″sin) a pure, crystalline, highly lethal neurotoxin present in puffer fish of the order Tetraodontidae and in newts of the genus Taricha (in which it is called tarichatoxin). Ingestion of improperly cooked flesh may result in tetrodotoxism within minutes. Called also tetraodontoxin.Medical dictionary. 2011.