Brevetoxin

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Brevetoxin (PbTx), or brevetoxins, are a suite of cyclic polyether compounds produced naturally by a species of dinoflagellate known as Karenia brevis. Brevetoxins are neurotoxins that bind to voltage-gated sodium channels in nerve cells, leading to disruption of normal neurological processes and causing the illness clinically described as neurotoxic shellfish poisoning (NSP).^[1] Although brevetoxins are most well-studied in K. brevis, they are also found in other species of Karenia and at least one large fish kill has been traced to brevetoxins in Chattonella.^[1]