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 1950s,
Anatoxin-a(S) 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 and peripheral nervous systems; inducing poisoning via nicotinic and muscarinic cholinergic receptor stimulation. Treatment of afflicted case by atropine has attested to suppress the muscarinic mediated toxicity; which prevents the namesake salivation that similarly reacts to prevent the