The Molecular and Integrative Basis to Brevetoxin Toxicity

14 Translation of Ionic Effects of Brevetoxins to Physiological Response. 538 

19 Effects on Autonomic Control of Breathing and Body Temperature. 542 

Episodes of massive marine animal kills and noxious ocean vapors have been associated with discolored water in the Gulf of Mexico since the earliest records. In the late 1940s, two seminal reports commenced research on brevetoxins the first identified the dinoflagellate Gymnodinium breve as the micro-organism responsible for discolored water and fish kills and fhe second demonstrated that when vapors of water containing the organism were introduced to volunteers, it caused the characteristic respiratory irritation. Nearly two decades later, a toxic activity was isolated from 

breve and G. ftreve-contaminated shellfish and found to cause a neurological poisoning similar 

Seafood and Freshwater Toxins Pharmacology, Physiology, and Detection 

---