This paper aims to assess and compare currently available antidotes for cyanide poisoning. Such evaluation, however, is difficult. Thus, extrapolation from the results of animal studies has potential pitfalls, as significant inter-species differences in response may exist, and these experiments often involve administration of toxin and antidote almost simultaneously, rather than incorporating a...

It has recently been established that nitrosoglutathione is the preferred substrate of the glutathione-dependent formaldehyde dehydrogenase from divergent organisms. Trypanosomatids produce not only glutathione, but also glutathionylspermidine, trypanothione and ovothiol A. The formaldehyde dehydrogenase activity of Crithidia fasciculata was independent of these thiols and extracts possessed ve...

The gram-negative oral anaerobe Prevotella intermedia forms an iron(III) protoporphyrin IX pigment from haemoglobin. The bacterium expresses a 90 kDa cysteine protease, InpA (interpain A), a homologue of Streptococcus pyogenes streptopain (SpeB). The role of InpA in haemoglobin breakdown and haem release was investigated. At pH 7.5, InpA mediated oxidation of oxyhaemoglobin to hydroxymethaemogl...

Scientific foundation Nitric oxide (NO) is a major regulator of vascular smooth muscle tone. Generated enzymatically by one of several NO synthases from L-arginine, NO activates guanylyl cyclase by binding to its haem component, leading to the production of cyclic GMP. 4 This then relaxes vascular and bronchial smooth muscle by a mechanism which probably involves inhibition of an activation ind...

A 3.5-year-old boy was found unconscious after ingesting an uncertain amount of a colourless and odourless liquid from a plastic bottle that he found in his mother’s bag. The mother knew that the bottle contained X and immediately took the child to hospital. X was obtained from a jewellery factory in China, and was usually used for electroplating. The child was unconscious, and muscle twitching...

A method for perfusion of the isolated trout heart coronary circulation with red blood cells (RBCs) was developed. The method was used to analyse the influence of RBC perfusion on myocardial O(2) supply and O(2) consumption and to test the hypothesis that nitrite is converted to vasoactive nitric oxide in the RBC-perfused coronary circulation. Perfusion with RBCs significantly increased myocard...

PURPOSE To determine the effect of an anaesthetic with antioxidant potential, propofol, on red blood cell (RBC) antioxidant enzyme activities and RBC susceptibility to peroxidative challenge. METHODS Propofol was administered by intravenous bolus (2.5 mg.kg-1) and continuous infusion (36 and 72 ml.hr-1 in nine swine; 216 ml.hr-1 in two swine), to achieve serum concentrations between 5 and 30 ...