Target poisoning

Flora, S.J.S., Sekhar, K. (2004). Chronic arsenic poisoning target organ toxicity, diagnosis and treatment. In Pharmacological Perspectives of Some Toxic Chemicals and their Antidotes (S.J.S. Flora, J.A. Romano, S.I. Baskin, K. Sekhar, eds), pp. 271-302. Narosa Publishing House, New Delhi, India. 

Covalent synthesis of complex molecules involves the reactive assembly of many atoms into subunits with aid of reagents and estabUshed as well as innovative reaction pathways. These subunits are then subjected to various reactions that will assemble the target molecule. These reaction schemes involve the protection of certain sensitive parts of the molecule while other parts are being reacted. Very complex molecules can be synthesized in this manner. A prime example of the success of this approach is the total synthesis of palytoxin, a poisonous substance found in marine soft corals (35). Other complex molecules synthesized by sequential addition of atoms and blocks of atoms include vitamin potentially anticancer KH-1 adenocarcinoma antigen,... 

Like reactive evaporation, reactive sputtering is used in the deposition of refractory compounds by providing a small partial pressure of hydrocarbons, nitrogen, or oxygen. A problem is target poisoning caused by the reaction of the target with the reactive gas. 

Some OP compounds induce delayed neurotoxic effects ("delayed neuropathy") after acute poisoning. This delayed neurotoxic action is independent of cholinesterase inhibition but related to phosphorylation of a specific esterasic enzyme in the nervous tissue, called "neurotoxic esterase" or "neuropathy target esterase" (NTE) (Johnson, 1982). NTE is present in the nervous tissue, liver lymphocytes, platelets, and other tissues, but its physiological function is unknown. There is a rather large inter-individual variation of lymphocyte and platelet NTE activity (Table 2). 

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