Question

What is the action potential when someone has ingested the toxin tetrodotoxin?

Answer 1

lets first talk about the toxin
how much do you know about it? if you dont know much do some research and we'll discuss it

Answer 2

its a toxin that comes from the puffer fish. Which blocks voltage gated sodium channels. And eventually will cause respiratory failure.If not treated immediately

Answer 3

So firstly this is a biotoxin, it appears kind of colorless and is like a crystalline solid. With this being said it can be called many things.

Fugu poison
Maculotoxin
Spheroidine
Tarichatoxin
Tetrodontoxin
TTX

Where is it found? Usually in the sexual organs or the liver of some fish. As you said previously commonly puffer fish. But there are others as well like toad-fish ext.
Tetrodotoxin is an extremely potent poison.

How does poisoning occur?
Well it occurs 99.9% of the time when the fish is not prepared properly. Tetrodotoxins interfere with signals from nerves to muscles and causes an increasing paralysis of the muscles of the body. Tetrodotoxin in most cases is fatal.

There are many ways to fix being poisoned some more preferred than others. Some more likely than others.

Indoor/Outdoor air, water, food, and other agricultural objects. Now these methods are unlikely but are the only known methods of dissemination.

First responders with the CDC usually will wear CBRN and SCBA.

Answer 4

http://www.life.umd.edu/grad/mlfsc/zctsim/ionchannel.html for more about this topic please visit this site.

Answer 5

Thank you sooooo much!!!!

Answer 6

@MedicalDoctor I guess my follow up question would be, if I had a scenario where someone had ingested wrongly cooked Puffer fish and had tetrodotoxin poisoning, what exactly would be the action potentail of that scenario? you might've just explained it to me, but I'm having a hard time grasping it.

Answer 7

That is in the link!

Answer 8

The flow of sodium ions into nerve cells is a necessary step in the conduction of nerve impulses in excitable nerve fibers and along axons. Normal axon cells have high concentrations of K+ ions and low concentrations of Na+ ions and have a negative potential. Stimulation of the axon results in an action potential which arises from a flow of Na+ ions into the cell and the generation of a positive membrane potential. Propagation of this depolarization along the nerve terminal presages all other events. The Na+ ions flow through the cellular membrane employing the sodium ion channel, a channel that is selective for sodium ions over potassium ions by an order of magnitude.

Answer 9

Stimulation of the axon results in an action potential which arises from a flow of Na+ ions into the cell and the generation of a positive membrane potential.

Answer 10

Does that help?

Answer 11

A lot!!! Thank you!!!!!

Answer 12

No problem!