Amlodipine

Tetrodotoxin

Photographs thanks to Prof. Michael W. Davidson  http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/

Amlodipine is a slow-acting calcium channel blocker. It is prescribed to help with hypertension, chronic stable angina, and vasoplastic angina. It also reacts directly in the vascular smooth muscles to cause a reduction in both peripheral vascular resistance and blood pressure.

As natural, potent neurological poisons, guanidinium cations are featured in toxins such as tetrodotoxin, produced by the notorious puffers.

In Japan, sushi chiefs who wish to prepare Fugu must go through years of training and are licensed by the government. A single milligram or less of tetrodotoxin (the amount that fits on the head of a pin!) is enough to kill a full-grown person in as few as 20 minutes and is considered 100 times as lethal as a venomous black widow spider bite and 10,000 times deadlier than cyanide.