Saxitoxin and neosaxitoxin act instead by impairing the ion channels themselves. Normally, a nerve signal is propagated to a neuron via the flow of sodium ions throughout the ion channel into the neuron. The toxins block this channel, preventing the propagation of nerve impulses to the muscles. These toxins do however have an important role in neurological studies, especially anatoxin-a for its ability to mimic the behavior of acetylcholine. Because of this trait, it is also hoped that a less toxic form of anatoxin-a may be used to help counter the depletion of acetylcholine in Alzheimer's disease patients.
Hepatotoxins are cyclic peptides, or ringed amino acid chains.
Whereas the neurotoxins may being death in mere minutes, the hepatotoxins act on a timescale from hours to days. These toxins damage the liver by affecting the maintenance of the cytoskeleton, which is comprised of a network of protein filaments, by disrupting the balance of phosphate groups on cytoskeletal proteins. In a healthy cell, although these protein filaments shrink, grow, and dissociate and associate on an ongoing basis, the general size of the cytoskeleton stays constant. The hepatotoxins cause the cytoskeleton to collapse, causing the hepatocytes to collapse inwards. The hepatocytes, and also the capillary cells, then pull apart, spilling blood into the liver.