How come you can build up tolerance to toxins, like snake’s, but you can’t build up a tolerance to others, like cyanide?

Question

How come you can build up tolerance to toxins, like snake’s, but you can’t build up a tolerance to others, like cyanide?

In: 106

Answer 1

Because cyanide cannot be attacked/broken down by our immune system. Cyanide molecules are tiny little innocent seeming things.

But things like venom on the other hand are made up of much larger much more complex molecules, typically enzymes or proteins, things that are large enough to be noticed and attacked by our immune system. The reason you can build a tolerance to snake venom is because your body can make antibodies for it which speeds up the immune response each time.