Already known in Japan, puffer fish or fugu, is an exquisite delicacy that Japanese cooks consider an authentic luxury dish. But precisely its deadly toxicity of the ovaries of females, which only an expert chef knows how to identify, has caused numerous cases of death by poisoning in Japanese restaurants, a puffer fish can contain in its viscera toxin to kill about 30 people. Tetratroxin is the most potent animal-origin poison that exists. In 1958, 176 people were poisoned by its consumption. Tetratroxin is 10,000 times more deadly than cyanide and 10 to 100 times more deadly than the black widow spider's poison.
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Tetratroxin is generally abbreviated as TTX. It is an amino compound (a perhydroquinazoline) with a molecular weight of 319, with a pKa of 8.5 in aqueous solution. It is soluble in water, but it decomposes easily in strongly acidic or alkaline conditions being stable in a wide range of pH (3-8,5). The toxicity can be canceled by the action of 2% sodium hydroxide for 90 minutes. Because the toxin is not protein, it is relatively stable to cold and heat. The molecule has a tricyclic structure and contains a positively charged guanidino group.