Toxopneustes pileolus

Echinozoa Echinoidea Echinaces Toxopneustidae (Toxopneustes pileolus Tripneustes gratilla)... 

I toxins. Among the echinodermata, the stalked grasping organ (pedicellaria) of isolated species of sea urchins and st sh may also serve as a poison weapon. The sea urchin Toxopneustes pileolus is much feared in East Asian waters. Other species of sea urchins also possess poisonous spines (e.g., Diadema setosum). The chemical composition of the venoms is mostly unknown. The cuvierian organs extruded from the cloaca of sea cucumbers when disturbed from sticky fibers in water may also secrete a venom, e.g., the holothurins see also echinoderm saponins. 

Nakagawa, H., A. Kimura, M. Takei, and K. Endo Histamine Release from Rat Mast Cells Induced by an Extract from the Sea Urchin Toxopneustes pileolus. Toxicon 20, 1095 (1982). 

Nakagawa, H., and A. Kimura Partial Purification and Characterization of a Toxic Substance from Pedicellariae of the Sea Urchin Toxopneustes pileolus. Japan. J. Pharmacol. 32, 966 (1982). 

Kimura, A., H. Nakagawa, H. Hayashi, and K. Endo Seasonal Changes in Contractile Activity of a Toxic Substance from the Pedicellaria of the Sea Urchin Toxopneustes pileolus. Toxicon 22, 353 (1984). 

Toxopneustes pileolus sea urchins were collected along the coast of Tokushima Prefecture, Shikoku Island, Japan, from 1991 through 1993 (Fig. 1). Horse blood sample was obtained from Nippon Bio-Test Laboratories (Tokyo, Japan). SephadexG-200 was from Pharmacia LKB. Diethylaminoethyl cellulose (DE52) was a product of Whatman Laboratory. All the other chemicals were reagent grade. 

Fujiwara, T., 1935, On the poisonous pedicellaria of Toxopneustes pileolus (Lamarck). Annot. Zool. Jpn. 15 62-69. 

Nakagawa, H., Kimura, A., Takei, M., and Endo, K., 1982, Histamine release from rat mast cells induced by an extract from the sea urchin Toxopneustes pileolus. Toxicon. 20 1095-1097. 

Nakagawa, H., Tu, A. T, and Kimura, A., 1991, Purification and characterization of Contractin A from the pedicellarial venom of sea urchin, Toxopneustes pileolus. Arch. Biochem. Biophys. 284 279-284. 

Nakagawa, H., Tomihara, Y, Araki, Y, and Hayashi, H., 1994, Preliminary studies on venom proteins in the pedicellariae of the toxopneustid sea urchins, Toxopneustes pileolus and Tripneustes gratilla. J. Natural Toxins. 3 25-34. 

Okada, K., 1955a, Biological studies on the practical utilities of poisonous marine invertebrates. I. A preliminary note on the toxical substance detected in the trumpet sea urchin, Toxopneustes pileolus. Rec. Oceanogr Wks. 2 49-52. 

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