Flavonoid Treatment for Mustard Agents’ Toxicity

The weapons of mass destruction, chemical, biological and nuclear warfare are the most brutal created by the humans. They kill and incapacitate not only the armed forces but also the innocent public, without any mercy. The Chemical Weapons Convention prohibits the production, storage and use of toxic chemicals during warfare. In fact, the use of “Any chemical which through its chemical action on life processes can cause death, temporary incapacitation or permanent harm to humans and animals” as a method of warfare is discouraged by the Chemical Weapons Convention and many of such toxic chemicals are listed in its three Schedules for verification purpose (OPCW). The chemical warfare agents are extremely toxic chemicals. They act in very small quantities and very rapidly, and death may occur in minutes, like the nerve agents and the blood agents (Somani, 1992). Some of them like the blistering agents, though may not cause immediate lethality, but are highly incapacitating (Dacre & Goldman, 1996). The nerve agents are organophosphorous compounds that include tabun, sarin, soman and Vx. They inhibit acetylcholinesterase enzyme resulting in the accumulation of acetylcholine leading to muscarinic and nicotinic receptor stimulation (Bajgar, 2004). The blood agents include the cyanides. They inhibit cytochrome oxidase enzyme leading to cellular hypoxia (Way, 1984). Though the nerve agents and the blood agents are immediately lethal, specific antidotes are available for use in the field as First Aid Kit (Vijayaraghavan et al, 2011). For nerve agent poisoning the recommended antidotes are atropine sulphate and pralidoxime chloride that are administered by autoinjectors (Friedl, 1989; Vijayaraghavan et al, 2007). For cyanide poisoning the recommended antidotes are amyl nitrite inhalation, and sodium nitrite and sodium thiosulphate injection (Chen & Rose, 1952; Bhattacharya & Vijayaraghavan, 2002).