toxinology

Toxinology is the scientific study of toxins produced by living organisms, including their chemistry, structure, mechanisms of action, and biological effects. The field encompasses the identification and characterization of toxins, their physiological impact, and their potential uses in medicine, agriculture, and biotechnology. It is distinct from toxicology, which examines the adverse effects of toxic substances regardless of origin; toxinology focuses on toxins of biological origin, especially venoms and poisons.

Toxins originate in a wide range of organisms, including snakes, scorpions, spiders, cone snails, other marine invertebrates, plants, bacteria, and fungi. They can be proteins or peptides (such as enzyme inhibitors or ion-channel modulators), small molecule toxins, or complex mixtures found in venoms or poisonous secretions. Venomous animals inject toxins via bites or stings, whereas plant and microbial toxins are typically ingested or exposed through other routes.

Subfields include venomics, venom-gland transcriptomics and proteomics, toxin isolation and structure-function studies, pharmacology, and clinical toxinology. Applications include the development of antivenoms and antitoxins, toxin-inspired drugs, and research tools for neuroscience and physiology. Methods commonly used are chromatography, mass spectrometry, genomics and transcriptomics, functional assays, and animal or cellular models to study mechanism of action.

Historically, toxinology has contributed to understanding nerve transmission, muscle contraction, and ion-channel physiology, while also providing therapeutic agents such as botulinum toxin and conotoxins. Ethical and logistical challenges surround venom extraction, animal welfare, and biodiversity conservation, particularly for rare or endangered species used as toxin sources.

It intersects with pharmacology, evolutionary biology, and medicine, and continues to expand through advances in omics technologies, structural biology, and synthetic biology, enabling both safer antivenoms and novel toxin-derived therapies.