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Strychnine

What is Stricnina

Strychnine is a particularly toxic alkaloid, still used today as a pesticide against small vertebrates such as birds and rodents.

More rarely, strychnine is found in very small doses mixed with drugs such as heroin, cocaine and LSD.

Poisoning can occur by accidental ingestion of pesticides, contaminated food and water, or by inhalation or absorption of strychnine through the membranes of the nose, eyes and mouth.

Loans

Despite the high poisonous power, until the middle of the last century small doses of strychnine were used in stimulating preparations, laxatives and against stomach disorders.

Also well known is the use of the substance in sports for doping purposes, particularly in the Olympics of the early 1900s (the cases of Thomas Hicks in the Saint Luis 1904 Olympics and of Dorando Pietri in the London 1908 Olympics are famous).

Where is it

Strychnine is contained in the seeds of plants belonging to the genus Strychnos; the highest concentration was found in the bark of Strychnos Icaja (6.6%), although the substance is traditionally extracted from the seeds of walnut vomica ( Strychnos nux vomica ), an arboreal plant that grows in Australia and southern Asian regions ( India, Sri Lanka, and East Indies). Strychnine appears as a white powder - crystalline, odorless and with an extremely bitter taste - which can be taken by mouth, inhalation or intravenous solution.

How it works

Strychnine is a competitive antagonist of glycine, an inhibitory neurotransmitter of the central nervous system, particularly of the spinal cord.

The poison acts by preventing the interaction of glycine with its specific receptors. With this very important inhibitory brake missing, prolonged, painful and generalized muscle contractions are produced, similar to convulsions. The simultaneous contraction of the extensor and flexor muscles causes serious muscle damage, with myoglobinuria and the appearance of specific markers in the circulation (CPK).

Strychnine poisoning symptoms may appear shortly after ingestion, usually within 15 to 30 minutes, and may be dramatic depending on the dose taken. Symptoms include: agitation, apprehension, fear, restlessness, painful muscle spasms that can cause fever and hepato-renal lesions, jaw tension and forced facial grimaces. In the most serious intoxications opisthotonus appears: following even minimal sensory stimulation the body stiffens, the head bends backwards and the back arches into the typical hyperflexion position; few of these attacks can cause death by asphyxiation.

The patient who is poisoned with strychnine is alert and painfully aware of muscle contractions, a characteristic that differentiates the symptomatology from epileptic seizures.

In addition to asphyxiation from spastic paralysis of the respiratory muscles, death can occur due to hyperthermia or renal insufficiency due to excessive rhabdomyolysis.

Poisoning treatment

Since there is no specific antidote against strychnine, the therapy is based on the administration of benzodiazepines (relax skeletal muscles), activated carbon or equivalent substances (facilitate the elimination of strychnine not yet absorbed) and oxygen in case of need. Body temperature monitoring and hospitalization in quiet environments is recommended to minimize sensory stimuli.

Homeopathy

Although the therapeutic index (ratio between lethal dose in 50% of the sample and effective dose in 50% of the sample) is so low as to be practically non-existent, strychnine is used, indirectly and in small doses, in homeopathic medicine, where still today a wide use is made of preparations obtained from mature and dried seeds of vomica walnut, indicated in the presence of constipation, haemorrhoidal affections, general malaise and muscle-tendon disorders.