ABSTRACT
Several species of marine microalgae produce biotoxins that are responsible for massive fi sh kills and seafood-related poisonings in humans (e.g., paralytic shellfi sh poisoning and ciguatera poisoning). The symptoms are often neurological and/or gastrointestinal and linked to an altered cellular excitability. Voltage-gated ion channels are transmembrane proteins that regulate and control the cellular excitability in the entire body and therefore serve as primary molecular targets for marine guanidinium and cyclic polyether toxins (Fig. 1 in McNabb 2014). Here we focus on the molecular
1Laboratory for Molecular Biophysics, Physiology, and Pharmacology, University of Antwerp, 2610 Antwerp, Belgium. aEmail: Ivan.Kopljar@ua.ac.be bEmail: dirk.snyders@ua.ac.be 2Laboratory for Toxicology and Pharmacology, University of Leuven, Campus Gasthuisberg, 3000 Leuven, Belgium. cEmail: Steve.Peigneur@pharm.kuleuven.be dEmail: Jan.Tytgat@pharm.kuleuven.be *Corresponding authors
aspect of the mechanism of action of saxitoxins (and tetrodotoxins), brevetoxins, ciguatoxins and gambierol on voltage-gated sodium (NaV) and potassium (KV) channels.
