Toxicology:
Brief Introduction
The definition of toxicology is that it is the study of
harmful effects of biological, physical or chemical agents on living organism
and the ecosystem and it includes the prevention and betterment of such harmful
effects. Exposure to biological, physical or chemical agents the adverse or
harmful end product is called toxicity. Biochemical malfunctions to serious
organ damage and death are the wide array of forms that toxicity can manifest
itself.
Under the right condition all
substances are toxic. The dose that kills 50% of a test population refers to
the term lethal dose or LD 50. The concentration of chemical that
kills 50% of test animals in a given time refers to the term lethal
concentration or LC50.
Division
of Toxicology
1.
Drug
abuse screening – Screen for drug use and to monitor someone with substance abuse problem.
Therapeutic
drug monitoring - Measurement of drug levels in blood, serum, or plasma at timed intervals.
Emergency
Toxicology - the laboratory diagnosis of the presence and severity of drug
overdose, often in the comatose.
Forensic
Toxicology - the measurement of drugs and toxins in tissues for medico legal
purposes.
This is about toxicology
and toxicology is related to poison. Since I like animals I’ll just show some
of the most poisonous animals in the world.
1. Inland
Taipan
This snake is one of the most venomous snakes in the world.
This snake is also known as the fierce snaked and can reach a length of 2.5
metres but the more usual length is 1.8 metres. This species can be seen most
in
2. Deathstalker Scorpion
The name itself of the Deathstalker Scorpion can give you impression that they are very dangerous and very scary. This scorpion is also known as the Israeli Yellow Scorpion. The male scorpions are about 3 inches long and the female is about 1 inch longer. Deathstalker are originally from Middle East and parts of North Africa but because they are popular as pet they are now found all over the place. The venom from this death stalker can kill a child and the sting is very painful. This scorpion injects very toxic venom that can cause convulsion, fever extreme pain, paralysis and can often coma or death by respiratory or heart failure. This species cause several deaths each year with LD value of 0.16 - 0.50 mg/kg.
3. Stone Fish
Stone fish is the most venomous fish known. It’s length is about 35cm long and found mostly in the Indo-Pacific region and Northern Australia waters. When this fish is lying on the sea it is camouflaged and looks exactly like rocks. It eats shrimps and small fish. For protection for other predator it has a row of 13 venomous spines along its back and it can causes excruciating pain and tremendous swelling rapidly develops with death of tissue. The severity of the symptoms depends on the depth of penetration and the number of spines involved. The effects of the venom are muscle weakness, temporary paralysis and shock, which may result in death if not treated.
4. PufferFish
Pufferfish is also known as blow fish.
This fish are poor swimmers and because of that it has special defence
mechanism by quickly ingesting huge amounts of water and sometimes air to turn
themselves into a inedible ball. Their size is actually 1 inch long and can
grow to more than 2 feet in length. They are scaleless fish and usually have
rough to spiky skin. Almost all pufferfish contail tetrodotoxin, that makes
them foul tasting and lethal to fish. For human this substance is deadly up to
1,200 times more poisonous than cyanide. One pufferfish can kill 30 adult
humans and there is no known antidote.
5. Blue
Ringed Octopus
There are 2 species of blue ringed octopus, one is the Hapalochalena lunalata and the other one is the Hapalochlaena maculosa. The H. lunata can grow up to 20 cm. The H. maculosa can weighs about 28 grams and can grow up to 5 cm. H, maculosa can be found only in the temperate waters of southern Australia from southern Western Australia to eastern Victoria at depths ranging 0-50m. H.lunata can be found in northern Australia to Japan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Solomon Islands and Indonesia and also Sri Lanka. They secrete 2 types of poison; one is use for hunting crab while the other one is used as self-defence against their predators. These poisons are secreted into the blue-ringed octopus’s saliva which contains maculotoxin and tetrodotoxin that can cause paralysis. The octopus will show its blue rings to show warning when threatened. Its venom has LD50 of 0.3mg/kg and enough to kill 26 humans. The symptoms include nausea, vision loss and blindness, loss of motor skill, loss of senses and respiratory arrest.
6. Poison Dart Frog
This tiny frog weighing less than an ounce (28 grams) may only be 1 inch long is one of the most poisonous species in the world and one example of this frog is the golden dart frog that has enough poison to kill 20,000 mice. These frogs live in the rain forest of central and South America and active during the day. Their poison are sometimes use by people living in Central and South America for hunting. They put the poison in the arrow and use it by their blow gun. The Poison contains Batrachotoxin that can be fatal in amount of 0.12 mg. Venom can kill 10 human
7. Box JellyFish
Box Jellyfish is also known as the Sea
wasp. They can be seen in coastal waters of Northern Australia and the
indo-Pacific. Its venom contains toxin that can attack the heart skin cells and
nervous system. The toxin has LD50 of 40 micrograms/kg. The poison is enough to
kill 60 adults. Their victims go into shock and drown or die of heart failure
before reaching shore. For the survivors they experience pain for weeks.
That's all!! I show some of the poisonous animals in the world because it can also be
related to toxicology because when this animals attack us and they introduce
venom to our body we can die if this cannot be treated early. So the scientists
collect and test the venom of every poisonous animal and
determined their lethal dose. Also by collecting the venom they can produce
antidote that can counteract the influence of poison or venom.
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