These included the development of anti-allergy drug Rizaben through the modification of nandina. Ltd., filing seven international patents in less than two years. After finishing his time at the lab, Sato moved to Nagano prefecture to work for Kissei Pharmaceutical Co. At the forefront of the research were Masuo Funabashi (1939-), a Yoshimura lab research associate, and Ken-ichi Sato (1947-) who joined the lab as a graduate student and later became a research associate. Tokyo Tech's attempts at total synthesis continued under the guidance of Juji Yoshimura (1925-2013) at the Laboratory of Chemistry for Natural Products, which was the center of life sciences from 1965 to 1986. By then, he had been carrying out research on pufferfish for nine years. He subsequently submitted a paper on the topic in July 1947. In October 1945, he presented his interim experiment results at the annual meeting of the Chemical Society of Japan. By the end of the war, it appeared he had achieved purification. He turned to the large population of frogs around the campus, using them for his toxicity tests rather than mice, which were much more expensive and hard to come by. Yokoo struggled to carry out suitable experiments, but refused to give up. Research was further hampered by the outbreak of World War II. Three years later he succeeded in obtaining a sample of high purity toxin. Yokoo even conducted the toxicity tests himself, injecting mice with the fractioned liquid before observing the effects. The first extracted amount was huge, about one large basinful, and required a tremendous amount of physical strength and patience. He began tirelessly repeating chemical extraction and precipitation processes on mashed ovaries of pufferfish to increase the concentration of the toxin. Hoshino heard this and suggested that Yokoo take on the challenge. Something must be done," Majima once pointed out. "Although pufferfish is a Japanese delicacy, research into its toxin has not progressed at all. The seeds of his enthusiasm were sown by Toshiyuki Majima (1874-1962), a professor at Tohoku Imperial University who also taught at Tokyo Tech. It was in 1938 that Yokoo became assistant professor and embarked on the long journey of pufferfish toxin research. He conducted research on natural toxic compounds under Toshio Hoshino (1899-1979). After graduating from the Department of Science at Taipei Imperial University, the seventh imperial university during the Japanese occupation era, Yokoo joined the Organic Chemistry Laboratory at Tokyo Tech in 1936. The man who made this his mission was Tokyo Tech's Akira Yokoo (1911-1994). Immense difficulties arouse, however, when researchers tried to retrieve tetrodotoxin in its purest form. Pufferfish toxin (C 11H 17N 3O 8, tetrodotoxin, TTX) In 1909, Tahara called the substance tetrodotoxin (tetrodo + toxin) after the Tetraodontidael family, the name of which refers to the four fused teeth of the fish. Director Yoshizumi Tahara (1855-1935) of the Tokyo Institute of Hygienic Sciences continued this work, isolating the toxin from pufferfish ovaries and partially purifying it. Unfortunately, the reality is that most cases end in the worst imaginable way.Ĭhemical investigations into pufferfish toxin are said to have started with Juntaro Takahashi (1856-1920) and Kichindo Inoko (1866-1893), professors at Tokyo Imperial University who created a toxicity table in 1889. If the condition is recognized quickly and artificial respiration is performed, it may be possible to prevent death. Because it paralyzes the skeletal muscles, however, poisoned victims lose the ability to speak and move their hands and feet, and eventually become unable to breathe. When consumed by humans, pufferfish poison does not damage the brain or heart muscle, so one remains fully conscious as the effects start to kick in.
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