Hyperthermia atropine causing

Rarely did the intramuscular or intravenous doses exceed 1.5 times the Incapacitating dose. Inhalation doses were higher, but potencies were lower by this route (usually about 60 percent of that by the Intravenous or intramuscular route). Compared with doses described in the scientific literature on atropine coma therapy 18-23 or scopolamine therapy, the BZ doses to which volunteers were exposed appear modest. As much as 20 times the ID50 of atropine and 30-40 times the ID50 of scopolamine have been administered in the past by clinicians—often to older and less robust patients. Many patients received multiple exposures of this magnitude over a period of days or weeks. These therapeutic procedures, reported several decades ago in refereed journals, actually stressed and advocated the benefits of such treatment, despite occasional deaths (most of which appear to have been caused by hyperthermia). 

Incidental and accidental intake of atropine and scopolamine, which are the main tropane alkaloids in plants of the solanecae family, may provoke poisoning of man and livestock [11,13-15, 55, 57,119-122] causing agitation, aggression, hallucinations, dry mouth and skin, mydriasis, loss of consciousness followed by coma combined with tachycardia, hypotension, and hyperthermia [57, 121], A detailed statistical analysis of paediatric plant exposures in Germany within the years 1998-2004 has been provided by Pietsch et al. [123], They found that most prevalent victims of accidental plant exposures are children in the age of 1-6 years presumably being misled by the attractive plump berries. 

Atropine is an antidotal treatment. It is used to reverse the muscarinic signs, but it will not reverse the nicotinic effects (muscular weakness, diaphragmatic weakness, etc.). Atropine blocks the effects of accumulated acetylcholine (ACh) at the synapse and should be continued until the nerve agent is metabohzed (Midthng et al, 1985). Over-atropinization can cause hyperthermia, tachycardia, agitation, mydriasis, and ileus, which can be life threatening in the horse (Meerstadt, 1982). 

Atropine was thought to have produced hypothermia in a boy aged 14 who was being treated with paracetamol (acetaminophen) and cooling blankets for hyperthermia (7). As atropine can cause hypothermia in animals, a causal relation cannot be excluded, even if a concomitant action with paracetamol is assumed. 

The elderly are particularly prone to develop dangerous hyperthermia when given atropine Atropine often causes excessive vasodilation and hypotension in tlie elderly 11. When a dose-response study of atropine is car ried out in young adults, which of the following effects may be observed ... 

---