Certain species of frogs in the genus Phyllobates have a powerful...

Question

Certain species of frogs in the genus Phyllobates have a powerful defensive adaptation—their skin can secrete a milky fluid that contains an extremely toxic compound called batrachotoxin (BTX). These frogs, which are found in Colombia, are known as poison dart frogs because some indigenous Colombian hunters coat the tips of their blowgun darts with the frogs' skin secretions. An animal hit by one of these darts dies quickly. What is the mechanism of action of BTX?

As the graph in Question 11 shows, BTX depolarizes the membrane and prevents repolarization. What effect would this have on electrical signaling by the nervous system?

Accepted Answer

Hello everyone and welcome to today's video. So the deep polarization and the revitalization of a neuron is due to what we'll remember that when we have a neuron it is usually going to have this resting membrane potential and it is usually very negative. We need the membrane potential to become more positive in order for the neuron to become the polarized. So what causes this while this neuron is going to open certain channels or is going to let in certain positive ions in order for them to make the inside of this neuron more positive and in this case they're going to be sodium channels. And since you're making the insight more positive, they're going to be the polarizing then you're in because of this. This is going to be what we are going to input here. Then we have what causes re privatization. Well when this process is done we're going to close the sodium channels and we're going to open a different type of channel which in this case it is going to be potash in channels and these petition channels are going to reprise this membrane. So because of this we're going to input that sodium channels are causing deep polarization whereas potassium channels are causing re privatization. And this is going to be represented by answer choice. That is the end of the video. And I really hope this helped you

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