CHEMICAL PROPERTIES AND PHYSIOLOGICAL ACTIONS OF TRITURUS EMBRYONIC TOXIN

¹ From the School of Biological Sciences, Laboratories of Experimental Morphology and Physiology, Stanford University, California

The embryonic toxin of Triturus torosus, T. similans and T. rivularis is soluble in water and in ethyl alcohol but is insoluble in chloroform, in ether and in other organic solvents. It is relatively heat stable even in slightly acid solution, but is readily inactivated in alkali. It has no decided acidic or basic properties. Purified preparations do not precipitate with alkaloidal reagents nor with salts of heavy metals. These facts, together with its physiological actions, indicate that it is neither an alkaloid nor a substance related to the cardiac toad poisons.

The toxin produces death in mammals, usually preceded by convulsions, by direct depression of the central nervous system. It paralyzes somatic motor nerves and also skeletal muscle. In the autonomic nervous system, it abolishes vagus and splanchnic nerve responses, but not those of the cervical sympathetic trunk. There is no evidence of an effect on cardiac muscle, nor on smooth muscle since arterial pressure responses to epinephrine are unaffected. The arterial pressure falls, apparently from vasomotor paralysis. Respiration is stopped by depression of the centers, which precedes paralysis of the respiratory nerves and muscles.

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