Isolation of a New Toxin, Prosurugatoxin, from the Toxic Japanese Ivory Shell, Babylonia japonica

Abstract

A new toxin, named prosurugatoxin because it formed surugatoxin on decomposition, was isolated from the toxicated Japanese ivory shell (Babylonia japonica). Prosurugatoxin evoked mydriasis in mice at a minimum effective intraperitoneal dose of 15 ng/g body weight, and inhibited the contractile response of isolated guinea pig ileum induced by 3×10^-5g/ml of nicotine at a concentration of 5×10^-9g/ml. In this mollusc the prosurugatoxin content was about 5 times that of neosurugatoxin. Prosurugatoxin was deduced on the basis of physical and chemical data to be des-xylopyranosyl-neosurugatoxin.