Organophosphorus (OP) is a large group of compounds with a wide variety of applications. The group comprises insecticides, pesticides and nematicides etc. in addition to deadly poison OP warfare chemicals like sarin and tabun. Thousands of casualties have been reported globally each year by the unintentional and intentional use of OP compounds. Uses of deadly poison OP like sarin by terrorists ...

Administration of oxime therapy is currently the standard approach used to reverse the acute toxicity of organophosphorus (OP) compounds, which is usually attributed to OP inhibition of acetylcholinesterase (AChE). Rate constants for reactivation of OP-inhibited AChE by even the best oximes, such as HI-6 and obidoxime, can vary >100-fold between OP-AChE conjugates that are easily reactivated an...

Forensic laboratories do not have the infrastructure to process or store contaminated DNA samples that have been recovered from a crime scene contaminated with chemical or biological warfare agents. Previous research has shown that DNA profiles can be recovered from blood exposed to several chemical warfare agents after the agent has been removed. The fate of four toxic agents, sulfur mustard, ...

Final Report: Theoretical Studies of Oxygen Reduction and Proton Transfer in SOFCs and Nerve Agents on Selected Surfaces Report Title Using theoretical and computational chemistry methods, we have studied the oxygen reduction and proton transfer in molten carbonate salts related to solid oxide fuel cells, and adsorption of nerve agents of sarin on surfaces of CaO, graphene and graphane. The mec...

Chemical warfare nerve agents (CWNAs) are highly toxic compounds that cause a cascade of symptoms and death, if exposed casualties are left untreated. Numerous rodent models have investigated the toxicity and mechanisms of toxicity of CWNAs, but most are limited to male subjects. Given the profound physiological effects of circulating gonadal hormones in female rodents, it is possible that the ...

Warfare neurotoxicants such as sarin, soman or VX, are organophosphorus compounds which irreversibly inhibit cholinesterase. High-dose exposure with nerve agents (NA) is known to produce seizure activity and related brain damage, while less about the effects of acute sub-lethal dose exposure. The aim this study was characterize behavioral, neuroinflammatory modifications at different time point...

15 Wellcome Trust. Death of a serviceman: will a study of a 50-year old death help us safeguard medical ethics in these troubled times? 18 Page WF. Long-term health effects of exposures to sarin and other anticholinesterase chemical warfare agents. Elevated frequency of sister chromatid exchanges of lymphocytes in sarin-exposed victims of the Tokyo disaster 3 years after the event. 21 Abou-Doni...

Human butyrylcholinesterase (hBChE) is currently being developed as a detoxication enzyme for stoichiometric binding and/or catalytic hydrolysis of organophosphates. Herein, we describe the use of a molecular evolution method to develop novel hBChE variants with increased resistance to stereochemically defined nerve agent model compounds of soman, sarin, and cyclosarin. Novel hBChE variants (Y3...

The reversible inhibition of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) by 4,4'-bipyridine (BP) was measured with acetylthiocholine as substrate. The enzyme/inhibitor dissociation constant for binding of BP to the catalytic site was Ka = 1.0 mM and the non-competitive dissociation constant for binding to an allosteric site was K, = = 9.0 mM. BP protected AChE against phosphylation by sarin, soman, tabun and V...