Top 10 Most Deadliest Poisons In The World
9. Batrachotoxin
Batrachotoxin is an extremely potent cardiotoxic and neurotoxic steroidal alkaloid found in certain species of frogs (poison dart frog), melyrid beetles, and birds.
According to experiments with rodents, batrachotoxin is one of the most potent alkaloids known: its subcutaneous LD50 in mice is 2 µg/kg.
The toxin is released through colourless or milky secretions from glands located on the back and behind the ears of frogs from the genus Phyllobates. When one of these frogs is agitated, feels threatened or is in pain, the toxin is reflexively released through several canals.
As a neurotoxin it affects the nervous system. Neurological function depends on depolarization of nerve and muscle fibres due to increased sodium ion permeability of the excitable cell membrane. Lipid-soluble toxins such as batrachotoxin act directly on sodium ion channels involved in action potential generation and by modifying both their ion selectivity and voltage sensitivity.
