Bad Fish - General Biology Edition - Part III - Case Study Collection - National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science

Part III—"Pharmacology"

General Biology Edition

by
James A. Hewlett
Science and Technology Department
Finger Lakes Community College

In this section, you (or your group) will become a small pharmaceutical company that is trying to develop a drug that can be used in the hospital to treat tetrodotoxin poisoning. There is no antidote to tetrodotoxin poisoning. Therefore, it is extremely important that your company is successful in this endeavor. In your report, you need to include the following:

Your Company Name:
- What do you want to call your company? Be creative!
Name of Your Drug:
Mechanism of Action:
- Describe how your drug will work.
- Be sure to provide details regarding its action. You are now familiar with the activity of this toxin at the level of molecules and cells, so your description should contain details of how your drug works at that level.

Some of your information will come from your understanding of what tetrodotoxin does to neurons. There is no right or wrong answer to how your drug will work because there currently is no drug to treat this problem. You may want to do some research on drugs that have actions at neurons (specifically sodium ion channels) and diseases that involve sodium ion channels. This will help you develop your drug.

IN THE NEWS—for more classroom discussion

There are many excellent websites that discuss tetrodotoxin. Do an Internet search of this toxin to explore the following issues:
- Where does this toxin come from?
- What part of the pufferfish is the toxin concentrated in?
- What other animals contain this toxin?
Dr. Westwood's visit to Indonesia was to explore the recent sightings of something called a coelacanth in that area of the world. What was Dr. Westwood looking for? Why is the presence of a coelacanth in Indonesia a significant event in biology news?