Corpus: Toxin
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Synonyms: toxic, poison, toxicant
English:
Definition[Bearbeiten]
Toxins are biogenic substances that damage organisms by disrupting physiological metabolic processes. They are therefore a subset of poisons and, like poisons, can lead to acute or chronic poisoning or other diseases.
The scientific discipline that deals with the systematic study of toxins is called toxinology.
Nomenclature[Bearbeiten]
The term toxin is often used less clearly in everyday medical language. Phenothiazines, for example, are referred to as hepatotoxins, although they are of chemical origin.
Classification[Bearbeiten]
...according to origin[Bearbeiten]
Toxins can be divided into the following classes according to their biological origin or their producers:
- Bacterial toxins
- Botulinum toxin
- Cholera toxin
- Tetanus toxin
- Shiga toxin
- Enterotoxins
- Tetrodotoxin
- Mycotoxins
- Trichothecenes
- Aflatoxins
- Phycotoxins
- Saxitoxins
- May toxin
- Phytotoxins
- Strychnine
- digitoxin
- ricin
- Coniin
- Animal venoms
- Snake venoms
- Taipotoxin
- Scorpion venoms
- Tityus toxin
- Spider venoms
- Wasp venom
- Bee venom
- Snake venoms
...by target organ[Bearbeiten]
- Hepatotoxin (liver)
- Cardiotoxin (heart)
- Myotoxin (muscle)
- Nephrotoxin (kidney)
- Neurotoxin (nervous system)
This list represents only a small selection of the known toxins.