Bufotoxin

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Bufotoxins are a family of toxic substances found in the parotoid glands, skin and venom of many toads (genus Bufo); other amphibians; and other plants and mushrooms (Siperstein et al, 1957; Lincoff & Mitchel, 1977; Kibmer & Wichtl, 1986). The exact composition varies greatly with the specific source of the toxin. It can contain: 5-MeO-DMT, bufagins, bufotalin, bufotenine, bufothionine, epinephrine, norepinephrine, and serotonin. The term bufotoxin can also be used specifically to describe the conjugate of a bufagin with suberylargine (Chen & Kovarikova, 1967).

Extract from the skin of certain Asian toads, such as Bufo gargarizans, is often found in certain Chinese folk remedies.

Toads known to secrete bufotoxin are:

• Bufo alvarius
• Bufo americanus
• Bufo arenarum
• Bufo asper
• Bufo blombergi
• Bufo bufo
• Bufo bufo gargarizans
• Bufo formosus
• Bufo fowleri
• Bufo marinus
• Bufo melanostictus
• Bufo peltocephalus
• Bufo quercicus
• Bufo regularis
• Bufo valliceps
• Bufo viridis
• Bufo vulgaris

[edit] External links

• Can you get high from licking a toad?
• http://www.erowid.org/animals/toads/toads_health1.shtml