Natural Toxins

Book excerpt: Natural Toxins presents the proceedings of the 6th International Symposium on Animal, Plant and Microbial Toxins, held in Uppsala, Sweden on August 1979. This book presents the methods for detection, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of diseases that natural toxins cause. Organized into 17 parts encompassing 84 chapters, this compilation of papers begins with an overview of the embryonic development, structure, and function of the compound oral glands of venomous and non-venomous snakes in comparison with other exocrine glands. This text then examines the occupational hazards of snakebites in both agriculture and fishing in the Asian areas. Other chapters consider the toxicity and immunological relationships among venoms of several Agkistrodon species. This book discusses as well the characterization of cytotoxins and their mechanisms of action upon model lipid and cell membrane systems. The final chapter deals with neurotoxins as tools for the characterization of molecular components involved in nerve impulse propagation. This book is a valuable resource for biochemists, toxicologists, and pharmacologists.