hypnotoxin

plural hypnotoxins

1. A hypothetical waste product of the brain proposed by Henri Piéron that causes fatigue and is cleansed by sleep.

   The problem was that nobody could isolate the exact chemical that caused the sleep, the mysterious hypnotoxin.

   2011, Rob Lubitz, Breaking Free, page 65

   3 more examples

   Yet, because of its apparent common sense, the hypnotoxin idea remained attractive until Dr. Kleitman's studies of the temperature cycle.

   1950 April 3, Robert Coughlan, “Sleep, and How to Get More of It”, in LIFE, volume 28, number 14, page 126

   Legendre and Piéron ( 2402-13 ), having obtained what they called "hypnotoxin" ( p. 203 ) from animals kept awake for a long time, did not attribute the onset of sleep to the direct action of hypnotoxin but to an inhibition of the CNS, the hypnotoxin thus acting as an accessory influence

   1987, Nathaniel Kleitman, Sleep and Wakefulness, page 352

   This suggested that either there were other influences that held the effects of hypnotoxin at bay in the morning or the steady buildup of hypnotoxin could not completely explain the waxing and waning nature of sleepiness.

   2004, Clete A. Kushida, Sleep Deprivation: Basic Science, Physiology and Behavior, page 35

2. A venom found in the nematocysts of some cnidarians that acts as a central nervous system depressant leading to inactivity, numbness, paralysis, and coma.

   The capsule is full of a poisonous fluid, the hypnotoxin which contains proteins and about 75% as virulent as cobra venom.

   2005, Dev Raj Khanna, P. R. Yadav, Biology of Coelenterata, page 203

   3 more examples

   On the other hand, the evidence that there is present in nettles another poison, the hypnotoxin, responsible for the paralysis of punctured animals, seems well grounded.

   1910, Otto Charles Glaser, The Nematocysts of Eolids, page 136

   According to Portier and Richet, hypnotoxin is believed to be a heat-sensitive, nondialyzable toxin with protein properties.

   1957, Bruce. W. Halstead, “Jellyfish Stings and their Medical Management”, in United States Armed Forces Medical Journal, volume 8, number 11, page 1600

   Nematocysts or stinging cells are specialised organelles which act for defence and offence of Hydra. Each nematocyst is filled with a poisonous fluid called hypnotoxin. Hypnotoxin is a chemical combination of phenols and proteins.

   2019, 26 Years' Chapterwise Solved Papers AIIMS Specialist Biology, page 29