thiopental and Poisoning

The physiology and pathology of different methods of capital punishment are described. Information about this physiology and pathology can be derived from observations on the condemned persons, postmortem examinations, physiological studies on animals undergoing similar procedures, and the literature on emergency medicine. It is difficult to know how much pain the person being executed feels or for how long, because many of the signs of pain are obscured by the procedure or by physical restraints, but one can identify those steps which are likely to be painful. The general view has been that most of the methods used are virtually painless, and lead to rapid dignified death. Evidence is presented which shows that, with the possible exception of intravenous injection, this view is almost certainly wrong.

Topics: Capital Punishment; Cause of Death; Female; Humans; Injections, Intravenous; Male; Pain; Pain Measurement; Pancuronium; Poisoning; Thiopental; Wounds and Injuries

Ammonia inhalation (0.84-1.07 mg/liter, 3 h) was accompanied by a 65% increase in ammonia concentration in mixed blood of intact rats. This treatment did not cause death of intact animals, but potentiated the lethal effect of sodium thiopental and inhibited external respiration and O2 consumption in animals. The resistance of rats to the lethal effect of barbiturate tended to decrease under conditions of experimental hyperammonemia induced by intraperitoneal injection of ammonium acetate in a nonlethal dose (6 mmol/kg). Our results indicate that potentiation of the toxic effect of barbiturates by atmospheric ammonia is related to its resorptive effects.

Topics: Acetates; Administration, Inhalation; Ammonia; Animals; Drug Synergism; Female; Hyperammonemia; Oxygen Consumption; Poisoning; Rats; Respiration; Thiopental

Rats poisoned with one LD50 of thiopental or amytal are shown to increase oxygen consumption when intraperitoneally given sucinate, malate, citrate, alpha-ketoglutarate, dimethylsuccinate or glutamate (the Krebs cycle intermediates or their precursors) but not when given glucose, pyruvate, acetate, benzoate or nicotinate (energy substrates of other metabolic stages etc). Survival was increased with succinate or malate from control groups, which ranged from 30-83% to 87-100%. These effects were unrelated to respiratory depression or hypoxia as judged by little or no effect of succinate on ventilation indices and by the lack of effect of oxygen administration. Body cooling of comatose rats at ambient temperature approximately 19 degrees C became slower with succinate, the rate of cooling correlated well with oxygen consumption decrease. Succinate had no potency to modify oxygen consumption and body temperature in intact rats. A condition for antidote effect of the Krebs intermediate was sufficiently high dosage (5 mmol/kg), further dose increase made no odds. Repeated dosing of succinate had more marked protective effect, than a single one, to oxygen consumption and tended to promote the attenuation of lethal effect of barbiturates. These data suggest that suppression of whole body oxygen consumption with barbiturate overdose could be an important contributor to both body cooling and mortality. Intermediates of Krebs cycle, not only succinate, may have a pronounced therapeutic effect under the proper treatment regimen. Availability of Krebs cycle intermediates may be a limiting factor for the whole body oxygen consumption in barbiturate coma, its role in brain needs further elucidation.

Topics: Amobarbital; Animals; Antidotes; Body Temperature; Citric Acid Cycle; Coma; Female; Hypnotics and Sedatives; Hypothermia; Injections, Intraperitoneal; Oxygen Consumption; Poisoning; Rats; Succinic Acid; Thiobarbiturates; Thiopental

To investigate whether the antioxidative sedatives propofol and thiopental can improve recovery from acute paraquat toxicity in A549 cells and in mice.. Prospective, controlled, dose-response, in vitro study and prospective, controlled animal study.. A university animal research laboratory.. Established human lung cultured cells and male SPF ICR mice.. Paraquat-treated (0.2 mM) A549 cells were incubated either with the antioxidative sedatives propofol (0-0.56 mM) or thiopental (0-2.0 mM), or the nonantioxidative sedatives diazepam (0-3.0 mM), midazolam (0-3.0 mM) and ketamine (0-9.0 mM), as well as the antioxidative drugs, trolox (0-2.0 mM), alpha-tocopherol (0-4.4 mM), antioxidative-processed food (AOB; 0-1.0 mg/ml), superoxide dismutase (SOD; 0 and 3,000 U/ml) and ulinastatin (0 and 50,000 U/ml), for 48 h. Paraquat-treated mice received i.v. injections of 10 mg/kg propofol, 5 mg/kg thiopental, 4.0 mg/kg trolox, 100 mg/kg alpha-tocopherol, 10 mg/kg AOB or 5,000 U/kg SOD, b.i.d. for 4 days (n = 10 each).. Post-administered propofol and thiopental, as well as the antioxidative drugs, trolox, alpha-tocopherol and AOB, improved A549 cell survival in vitro. The non-antioxidative sedatives SOD and ulinastatin were not protective. An i.p. injection of 50 mg/kg of paraquat resulted in a survival rate of 40% in mice at day 6. Propofol, trolox, alpha-tocopherol and AOB significantly lowered the mortality rate (80% survival), while thiopental did not.. Post i.v. injection of propofol is protective against paraquat-induced damage. Propofol can be given during mechanical ventilatory support after paraquat poisoning.

Topics: Anesthetics, Intravenous; Animals; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Free Radical Scavengers; Herbicides; In Vitro Techniques; Male; Mice; Mice, Inbred Strains; Paraquat; Poisoning; Propofol; Superoxides; Survival Analysis; Thiopental; Tumor Cells, Cultured

A suicide by intravenous thiopentone infusion is described. A search of the literature revealed only four cases, but this paucity is possibly due to under-reporting, as these suicides occur amongst medical personnel.

Topics: Adult; Humans; Infusions, Intravenous; Male; Physicians; Poisoning; Suicide; Thiopental

Topics: Adolescent; Apnea; Female; Humans; Intubation, Intratracheal; Isoniazid; Middle Aged; Peritoneal Dialysis; Phenytoin; Poisoning; Renal Dialysis; Respiration, Artificial; Seizures; Shock, Septic; Thiopental

Topics: Gastric Lavage; Humans; Phenobarbital; Poisoning; Positive-Pressure Respiration; Strychnine; Suicide; Thiopental; Toxicology; Tracheotomy; Tubocurarine

Topics: Amphetamine; Amphetamines; Animals; Aspirin; Body Temperature Regulation; Chlordiazepoxide; Chlorpromazine; Electrophysiology; Ether; Guinea Pigs; Hexobarbital; Meprobamate; Mice; Morphine; Nikethamide; Pain; Pentylenetetrazole; Pharmacology; Phenobarbital; Poisoning; Psychopharmacology; Rabbits; Research; Sensory Receptor Cells; Sleep; Strychnine; Thiopental