Hirudin hirudin. Hirudin Hirudin is a naturally occurring peptide in the salivary glands of blood-sucking leeches (such as "Hirudo medicinalis") that has a blood anticoagulant property. This is fundamental for the leeches’ alimentary habit of hematophagy, since it keeps the blood flowing after the initial phlebotomy performed by the worm on the host’s skin. During his years in Birmingham and Edinburgh, John Berry Haycraft had been actively engaged in research and published papers on the coagulation of blood, and in 1884, he discovered that the leech secreted a powerful anticoagulant, which he named hirudin, although it was not isolated until the
Anatoxin-a(S) toxin's other poisoning symptoms which include lacrimation, urinary incontinence and defecation. Atropine will not, however, counter another mechanism of the compounds toxicity as it also mediates a nicotinic adverse toxicity affecting muscle tremors, fasciculation, convulsions and respiratory failure. Anatoxin-a(S) Anatoxin-a(S) "Salivary" is a naturally occurring cyanotoxin commonly isolated from cyanobacteria (specifically of the genus "Anabaena") and causes excess salivation in mammals via inhibition of acetylcholinesterase. Anatoxin-a(S) is structurally a cyclic "N"-hydroxyguanine organophosphate with a phosphate ester moiety. The main mechanism of action for anatoxin-a(S) is by irreversibly inhibiting the active site of acetylcholinesterase leading to excess acetylcholine in the parasympathetic