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At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Intravenous self-administration of elemental mercury: efficacy of dimercaprol therapy.

Deliberate parenteral self-injection of mercury is extremely rare, and is associated with a high degree of mortality and morbidity. Because mercury depresses cellular enzymatic mechanisms by combining with sulfhydryl groups, soluble mercuric salts are toxic to all cells. Embolization of mercury in the lungs has been reported with varying degrees of changes in pulmonary function. Mercury causes urticaria progressing to weeping dermatitis, leukopenia, anemia, diarrhea, salivation, liver damage, and renal damage progressing to acute renal failure with anuria. Dimercaprol is an effective antidote in acute heavy metal intoxication because its two sulfhydryl groups successfully compete with tissue enzyme sulfhydryl groups for the offending metal. Experience with dimercaprol therapy months after the original exposure to mercury is not available. We describe the hospital course of a patient after intravenous elemental injection and the results of dimercaprol therapy months after the original exposure.

Adult

[Myoclonic encephalopathy caused by bismuth salts. Efficacy of treatment with dimercaprol].

Three patients with myoclonic encephalopathy caused by bismuth salts are reported, one with the severe and another with the mild form; dimercaprol was effective for the rapid improvement of the symptoms in both. In one of the patients in whom the clearance of bismuth was calculated it was found to be increased after dimercaprol therapy. We think that dimercaprol is an effective drug for the therapy of myoclonic encephalopathy caused by bismuth salts.

Adult

Acrylonitrile biotransformation in rats, mice, and chinese hamsters as influenced by the route of administration and by phenobarbital, SKF 525-A, cysteine, dimercaprol, or thiosulfate.

Female wistar rats, conventional albino mice, and Chinese hamsters were given a single dose of acrylonitrile, 0.5 or 0.75 mM/kg body weight. The elimination in the urine of thiocyanate, which is the main metabolite of acrylonitrile, indicated a decreasing proportion of biotransformation after oral (over 20%), intraperitoneal, or subcutaneous (2 to 5%), and intravenous (1%) administration in rats. Oral administration of acrylonitrile in hamsters and mice was also followed by higher biotransformation than intraperitoneal administration. Pretreatment of rats with phenobarbital, SKF 525 A, cysteine, or dimercaprol did not significantly influence elimination of thiocyanate in the urine after the administration of acrylonitrile, but simultaneous administration of thiosulfate significantly increased the metabolized portion of acrylonitrile given intraperitoneally in rats (almost twice) and mice (more than three times). Acrylonitrile was found to be strongly bound in blood. The study confirmed the marked effect of distribution (first-pass metabolic phenomenon) on the metabolic fate of foreign compounds. The strong acrylonitrile binding and cyanoethylation are apparently responsible for the unusually high influence of the different routes of administration on the metabolic fate of acrylonitrile. Acrylonitrile was more effectively metabolized to thiocyanate in mice than in rats after oral, intraperitoneal, and intravenous administration. A greater response of acrylonitrile to thiocyanate metabolism and a larger decrease in its acute toxicity after thiosulfate in mice than in rats indicate possible differences in the mechanism of acrylonitrile toxicity in these animals. Cyanide apparently plays a minor role in the acrylonitrile toxicity in rats, but may play quite an important one in mice.

Administration, Oral

Massive arsenic poisoning--effect of hemodialysis and dimercaprol on arsenic kinetics.

In massive arsenic poisoning, the use of hemodialysis and dimercaprol (BAL) therapy is still controversial. Hemodialysis is thought of value only for supportive care. BAL therapy has been criticized because of its delayed action, its own toxicity and its possible influence on arsenic clearance during hemodialysis. We studied arsenic kinetics during an acute suicidal intoxication (10 g of sodium arsenate). Treatment included gastric lavage, oral charcoal and supportive measures. Hemodialysis was performed immediately and repeated the next day. BAL therapy was prescribed only on the second day. Cardiovascular collapse, anuria and hepatic disturbance recovered in a few days and the patient could be discharged on the 15th day. Instantaneous serum arsenic hemodialysis clearance was 85 +/- 75 ml/min without previous BAL injection and 87.5 +/- 75 ml/min with a previous 250 mg BAL injection (difference not significant) indicating that BAL did not impede arsenic dialysis. The calculated total hemodialysis clearance of arsenic was higher than mean serum hemodialysis clearance indicating that erythrocyte bound arsenic is also eliminated during dialysis. We propose to consider early hemodialysis as an elimination measure in massive arsenic poisoning and to choose BAL as a chelator when dialysis is required.

Adult

Influence of dimercaprol on the early hepatic uptake of 111In-bleomycin in the BALB/c mouse.

Dimercaprol (BAL) administered 1 hr before 111In-bleomycin in the normal BALB/c mouse produced an early preferential hepatic loading of 111In-bleomycin without a loading of the spleen, skin, bone, or muscle. Liver-to-muscle ratios were increased about threefold under the influence of BAL. Liver (c BAL)/liver (s BAL) ratios also increased threefold at 3 hr whereas relative muscle uptake remained at about unity. Indium-111 chloride (colloid, pH 6.5) used as a control did not show a similar increase. The findings suggest that the kinetics and distribution of 111In-bleomycin in the normal BALB/c mouse can be influenced by pretreatment with BAL.

Animals

Effects of thiol inhibitors on hepatic guanylate cylase activity.

Several thiol blocking agents inhibit basal guanylate cyclase activity of 100 000 X g hepatic supernatant fractions and the stimulation of enzyme activity by N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (MNNG), NaN3, NaNO2 and nitroprusside. The relative potency of the thiol blockers as inhibitors was CdCl2 greater than p-hydroxymercuribenzoate greater than N-ethylmaleimide greater than arsenite greater than iodoacetamide. Inhibition of basal and MNNG-responsive soluble guanylate cyclase activities by arsenite was markedly potentiated by an equimolar concentration of 2,3-dimercaprol, but not by mercaptoethanol. Inhibition of soluble guanylate cyclase by either arsenite or CdCl2 was completely reversed by excess 2,3-dimercaprol. Qualitatively similar effects were observed with DE-52 cellulose purified soluble hepatic guanylate cyclase, and suggested an involvement of closely juxtaposed thiol groups in the regulation of enzyme activity. For several reasons inhibition by thiol blockers appeared to be mediated through multiple mechanisms and/or sites of interaction: (1) Concentrations of the thiol inhibitors which had no effect on basal activity strikingly inhibited the responsiveness of the enzyme to a submaximal concentration of MNNG. (2) CdCl2 abolished the action of excess MnCl2 to stimulate purified guanylate cyclase, but was a relatively ineffective inhibitor when MnCl2 and GTP were present in equimolar concentrations. By contrast, arsenite-2,3-dimercaprol was uniformly effective in inhibiting guanylate cyclase activity in the presence or absence of excess MnCl2. (3) Arsenite-2,3-dimercaprol increased the Km for MnGTP (control, 0.13 +/- 0.02 mM; 0.2 mM arsenite-2,3-dimercaprol, 0.31 +/- 0.03 mM), whereas CdCl2 had no effect on this parameter. (4) Hepatic particulate guanylate cyclase activity was significantly inhibited by arsenite 2,3-dimercaprol but not by CdCl2. Thus, the data not only indicate that vicinal dithiol groups are required for expression of basal guanylate cyclase activity and enzyme responses to agonists, but strongly suggest the involvement of more than one interacting site containing free thiol residues.

Animals

Conditioned flavor aversions: applications in assessing the efficacy of chelators in the treatment of heavy-metal intoxication.

A series of studies investigated the conditioned flavor aversions induced by administration of either lead or thallium in combination with either dimercaprol or dimercaptosuccinic acid in an attempt to correlate changes in flavor-aversion conditioning to changes known to alter the toxicity of metal administration. Rats received po administration of either thallium sulfate or lead acetate given alone or in combination with either dimercaprol or dimercaptosuccinic acid after consuming saccharin. Three days later they were given the choice between consuming saccharin or water, and saccharin preferences were recorded. When compared to rats receiving either nothing or the vehicle, rats receiving either lead or thallium showed significant reductions in saccharin preferences (i.e., conditioned flavor aversions). Rats receiving lead acetate in combination with either of the two chelators displayed significantly reduced conditioned flavor aversions when compared to the aversions induced in rats receiving lead alone. Under the same conditions, there were no differences in the conditioned flavor aversions of rats receiving thallium only and those of rats receiving thallium in combination with either of the two chelators. Attenuation of the lead-induced conditioned flavor aversions was eliminated when chelator administration was delayed by 4 hr. This attenuation of lead-induced but not thallium-induced aversions by dimercaprol and dimercaptosuccinic acid demonstrates the sensitivity and selectivity of the flavor-aversion conditioning paradigm in characterizing metal-chelator interactions and is in agreement with clinical reports of effective chelation therapy in cases of lead but not thallium intoxication.

Analysis of Variance

Elemental mercury poisoning.

Three siblings with inhaled elemental mercury toxicity are described, and the signs and symptoms of mercury toxicity, interpretation of mercury concentrations, and management of elemental mercury exposure are reviewed. A 4-year-old girl was admitted to the hospital with a history of fever and increasing irritability, fatigue, malaise, insomnia, headache, anorexia, and ataxia. She was discharged two days later with a diagnosis of acute cerebellar ataxia. During the following 18 days, the child's condition worsened, and she was rehospitalized. Meanwhile her 11-year-old sister was hospitalized for evaluation of fatigue, weakness, lower back pain, and ataxia. The older girl's blood mercury concentration, at 5.5 micrograms/dL, was in the toxic range. Twenty-four-hour urine mercury screening confirmed mercury intoxication in both children. Questioning revealed that the girls' brother had recently spilled 0.5-1 oz of elemental mercury in the house. All family members underwent blood and urine mercury testing. The brother underwent a dimercaprol challenge to determine his tissue mercury burden, which was found to be greater than 2.4 micrograms/dL. The sisters underwent two courses of chelation therapy with dimercaprol. Symptoms persisted in all three children, and they underwent five 10-day cycles of N-acetyl-D,L-penicillamine (NAP) therapy; the youngest underwent a third dimercaprol regimen. All siblings continued NAP chelation therapy because of extensive tissue mercury burden until the results of repeated urine mercury concentration determinations were normal.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Administration, Inhalation

Inhibition of adenylate cyclase by arsenite and cadmium: evidence for a vicinal dithiol requirement.

The effect of sodium arsenite and cadmium chloride on adenylate cyclase activity was examined in turkey erythrocyte membranes. Sodium arsenite was a weak inhibitor of adenylate cyclase -7mM produced only 60% inhibition. Its effect, however, was greatly potentiated by equimolar 2,3 dimercaprol- wherein 0.7 mM sodium arsenite inhibited 100% with an apparent Ki of 0.1 mM. Equimolar mercaptoethanol was less effective in potentiating sodium arsenite inhibition. Thus 0.7mM sodium arsenite in the presence of equimolar mercaptoethanol inhibited adenylate cyclase 56%. Excess 2,3 dimercaprol reversed inhibition by sodium arsenite or cadmium chloride. Sodium arsenite or cadmium chloride inhibited all forms of adenylate cyclase activity tested, including nonhormonal stimulation. Equimolar sodium arsenite and dimercaprol, at concentrations that caused 100% inhibition of adenylate cyclase activity, reduced the binding of the beta-receptor specific ligand iodohydroxybenzylpindolol by less than 15%. These results suggest that turkey erythrocyte membranes contain closely juxtaposed thiol groups and that interaction of such groups with arsenate interferes with the catalytic function of adenulate cyclase.

Adenylyl Cyclase Inhibitors