Detoxifying action

Another permanent cyanide detoxification method involves the intravenous injection of sodimn thiosulfate. The thiosulfate contains a loosely bound sulfur atom that can convert cyanide to thiocyanate by the action of the ubiquitous enzyme rhodanese (thiosulfate-cyanide sulfiutransferase). The much less toxic thiocyanate is excreted via the urine. Rhodanese occius in both the liver and in skeletal muscle and produces a detoxifying action even in the absence of thiosulfate. 

It was found that in mice infected with Plasmodium berghei, the malaria parasite caused an increase in hypnotic sensitivity of the mice to a number of barbiturates. This increase in activity appears to be due in part to a decrease in the detoxifying action of the liver and possibly to adrenal injury [157]. 

The detoxifying action of GL is strikingly demonstrated by Sapirstein s (145) observation that QL is highly efficient as an antidote for the central action of injected anuno-nium salts, and by the clinical studies of Price, Waelsch and Putnam (139) on the favorable effect of GL in attacks of epileptic petit mal. 

Chemical Basis of Toxicity There is only one comprehensive theory for the action of ozone on biologic organisms—the theory of Chow and Tappel that the initial event is the formation of lipid peroxide and that successive events are an attempt to detoxify this product. The theory was developed from experiments with animals that showed that exposure to ozone increases malonaldehyde, gluthathione peroxidase, glutathione reductase, and G-6-PD ... 

---