

Local pathology of neurotoxin exposure often includes neuron excitotoxicity or apoptosis but can also include glial cell damage. Neurotoxins inhibit neuron control over ion concentrations across the cell membrane, or communication between neurons across a synapse. Some substances such as nitric oxide and glutamate are in fact essential for proper function of the body and only exert neurotoxic effects at excessive concentrations. Common examples of neurotoxins include lead, ethanol (drinking alcohol), glutamate, nitric oxide, botulinum toxin (e.g.

Though neurotoxins are often neurologically destructive, their ability to specifically target neural components is important in the study of nervous systems. The term can also be used to classify endogenous compounds, which, when abnormally contacted, can prove neurologically toxic. Neurotoxins are an extensive class of exogenous chemical neurological insults that can adversely affect function in both developing and mature nervous tissue. Neurotoxins are toxins that are destructive to nerve tissue (causing neurotoxicity).

Neurotoxins can be found in a number of organisms, including some strains of cyanobacteria, that can be found in algal blooms or washed up on shore in a green scum.
