Bufo marinus

Irikura, D., et at. (2007). Characterization of a major secretory protein in the cane toad (Bufo marinus) choroid plexus as an amphibian lipocalin-type prostaglandin D synthase. J. Biochem. 141, 173-80. 

Goldfischer, S., B. Schiller, and I. Sternlieb. 1970. Copper in hepatocyte lysosomes of the toad, Bufo marinus L. Nature 228 172-173. 

Three of the classes of compounds found from the skin of amphibians have been identified from the skin of bufonids, including Bufo marinus. These are steroids (bufadienolides), biogenic amines (catecholamines, indolylalkylamines and alkaloids) and bioactive peptides and proteins. 

More than twenty indole derivatives have been identified from bufonid skin extracts. The indolylalkylamines bufotenidine, bufotenine, de-hydrobufotenine, bufo-tionine and serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine) (Fig. 39.2b) have been identified in skin secretions of Bufo marinus, while the latter four have been detected in parotoid gland secretions (Erspamer 1994 Maciel, Schwartz, Pires Jr, Sebben, Castro, Sousa, Fontes and Schwartz 2003). The concentration of serotonin in the dried secretion of B. marinus was found to equate to approximately 0.1% of the total composition and primarily acts as a vasoconstrictor (Gregerman 1952 Toledo and Jared 1995). 

Chemistry of Skin Secretions of the Cane Toad (Bufo marinus)... 

AMzawa, T., Mukai, T., Matsukawa, M., Yoshioka, M., Morris, J. F. and Butler Jr, V. P. (1994) Structures of novel bufadienolides in the eggs of a toad, Bufo marinus. Chem. Pharm. Bull. 42, 754-756. 

Alford, R. A. (1994) Interference and exploitation competition in larval Bufo marinus.. In P. C. Mishra, N. Behara, B. K. Sevapati and B. C. Guru (Eds.), Advances in Ecology and Environmental Sciences. Ashish Press, New Dehli, pp. 297-306. 

Brizzi, R., Delfino, G. and Pellegrini, R. (2002) Specialized mucous glands and their possible adaptive role in the males of some species of Rana (Amphibia, Anura). J. Morph. 254, 328-341. Chen, C. and Osuch, M. V. (1969) Biosynthesis of bufadienolides - 3Bhydroxycholonates as precursors in Bufo marinus bufadienolides synthesis. Biochem. Pharmacol. 18, 1797-1802. Chivers, D. P. and Smith, R. J. F. (1998) Chemical alarm signalling in aquatic predator-prey systems a review and prospectus. Ecosci. 5, 338-352. 

Cohen, M. P. and Alford, R. A. (1993) Growth, survival and activity patterns of recently metamorphosed Bufo marinus. Wildl. Res. 20, 1-13. 

Gregerman, R. I. (1952) Adrenalin and hydroxytyramine in the parotoid gland venom of the toad Bufo marinus. J. Gen. Physiol. 35, 483—487. 

Grigg, G. C., Taylor, A., McCallum, H. and Fletcher, L. (2006) Monitoring the impact of cane toads (Bufo marinus) on Northern Territory frogs - a progress report. In K. L. Molloy and W. R. Henderson (Eds.), Science of Cane Toad Invasion and Control, Proceedings of the Invasive Animals CRC/CSIRO/QLD NRM W Cane Toad Workshop, June 2006, Brisbane. Invasive Animals Cooperative Research Centre, Canberra, pp. 47-54 Hearnden, M. N. (1991) The reproductive and larval ecology of Bufo marinus (Anura Bufonidae). 

Bufotenine was isolated from skin and parotid gland of the toad Bufo vulgaris in 1893, and from plants and mushrooms. It is also foimd in the toad Bufo marinus that lives in the southern part of the United States and the Caribbean, and in Bufo alvarius, found in the southwestern United States. Amazon explorers had described poisoning by toad and mushroom preparations more than 400 years ago. Street names include black stone, Chan Su, Chinese love stones, cohoba, rock hard. Stud 100, and toad. 

There are a couple more entries for 5-MeO-DMT, one very important one, and the other quite trivial. There is a drug-use phenomenon that is often referred to by the popular title of "toadlicking." The toad involved is the Sonora Desert Toad, also called the Colorado River Toad, and carries the binomial Bufo alverius. It is not the closely related marine toad Bufo marinus, as... 

The ideal solution would be a natural beetle predator. Well, one did exist. Word had come from Hawaii that a species of toad, bufo marinus had already earned the name cane toad for its ability to protect sugar cane by dining on grayback beetles. So, in 1935, Australia imported 102 cane toads from Hawaii to drive the pesky beetles out of town. The Australians made a special pond filled with beautiful water lilies to encourage the toads romantic behavior. The little creatures needed no encouragement, however, and soon the pond was alive with cane-toad tadpoles. When the toads matured, the cane growers deposited them in the cane fields, fully expecting the beetles to succumb to the toads voracious appetite. 

The orientation of the j8-polypeptide has been explored by the use of lipophilic affinity labelling reagents generated photochemically inside the membrane. This shows the region of the polypeptide embedded in the lipid bilayer. The probe 0-hexanoyl-3,5-diiodo-JV- 4-azido-2-nitro-phenyl)tyramine undergoes photochemical conversion into the reactive nitrene, and has been used to label the (Na+, K+)-ATPase from Bufo marinus toad kidney. This shows that the j8-polypeptide is also a transmembranous polypeptide,49 a view that is in accord with immunochemical evidence.50... 

In addition to plant sources of hallucinogenic chemicals, several species of toads produce venom that has psychoactive properties. Members of the genus Bufo, particularly Bufo marinus and Bufo alvarius, contain bufotenine and 5-MeO-DMT. Typically toads are either licked or milked for their venom, which is then smoked or ingested. Alternatively, their dried skin may be smoked. 

Morphine (XXIII), a well-known plant alkaloid, has been detected in trace amounts in the skin of the bufonid toad, Bufo marinus (184). It is possible that this, and perhaps other trace alkaloids found in amphibian... 

Harris CA, Jenner FA. Some aspects of the Inhibition of the action of antidluretic hormone by lithium Ions In the rat kidney and bladder of the toad Bufo marinus. Brit J Pharmacol 1972 44 223-232. 

---