The nervous system relies on the function of neurons to relay messages. Neurons are highly excitable and complex cells that differ in structure and send these messages in the form of nerve impulses from one part of the body to another and allow cells to communicate Neurons consist of a single axon, which is responsible for the generation of the nerve impulses, these nerve pulses are also known as action potential.
For action potential to stimulate it relies on membrane ion channels. Many channels work like a lock and key mechanism and only allow the specified ion to pass across the plasma membrane. Voltage gated channels are “responsible for the initiation and propagation of action potentials in excitable cells” (Marine Drugs). Voltage gated channels are shut when the membrane is polarised and the extracellular and intracellular fluid are electrically neutral at -70m.v. When the voltage across the membrane is neutral this is known as the resting membrane potential. The voltage gated channels will begin to open if membrane potential voltage depolarises where the intracellular becomes less negative than the resting potential or when it becomes hyperpolarised, where it becomes more negatively charged than the resting potential (Marieb and Hoehn, 2010)
Neurotoxins are “substances that are poisonous or destructive to nervous tissue” (Marieb and Hoehn, 2010). There are numerous different kinds of neurotoxins that are very harmful to the human body that can compromise the nervous system and have catastrophic consequences. Tetrodotoxin (TTX) is a “neurotoxin found in puffer fish and other marine and terrestrial animals and it has been extensively used to elucidate the role of specific voltage-gated sodium channels (VGSCs)” (Marine Drugs).

I conducted a virtual experiment demonstrating the importance of the voltage gated sodium channels. The aim of the experiment