How do poisons work

Not all target organs are affected equally. Those organs like the liver, kidneys and lungs have very high blood flow and are therefore more susceptible. Poisons have many mechanisms by which they can cause damage or death and the damage can occur at the molecular, cellular or organ level.

Molecularly, a poison can interact with protein, lipids or DNA pathways. At the cellular level, the poison can. Two specific kinds of poisons will be discussed in this lecture: Toxins and Heavy Metals.

Toxins are poisons that are produced by natural biological function; e. Toxins are categorized based on the system within the body they affect. Neurotoxins affect the nervous system, cytotoxins affect cells and hemotoxins effect blood and organs. The way each of these toxins interact with the body is biochemically unique. Neurotoxins are by far the deadliest of the toxins. Since they target and destroy nerves they can cause paralysis, seizures and death.

Some chemicals that fall into the category of a neurotoxin are listed below: Lead Ethanol drinking alcohol Glutamate Nitric oxide NO Botulinum toxin e. Some of the items on this list are probably familiar and surprising since you would not normally think of ethanol as a toxin but at sufficient dosage it can cause death. The last chemical on the list is the poison from puffer fish and is most likely the only chemical on the list you would normally associate with being a poison.

But each of the chemicals can in fact do damage to the nerves in your body so they qualify as toxins. Hemotoxin and neurotoxin affect the body Adoraim Adoram YouTube. Neurotoxins have a number of mechanisms by which they inhibit normal neuron cellular processes. These processes include but are not limited to membrane depolarization and inter-neuron communication pathways.

The neurotoxin causes death by binding to and keeping nerve cells from performing their normal activities. When the nerve cells become damaged the body sends signals that cause cellular apoptosis or self-death. The damaged pathways lead to complete nervous system shut down and since nerve signals are what tell our heart to beat and lungs to inhale death soon follows. The table below shows different types of Neurotoxins and their specific type of inhibition:.

Looking specifically as Tetrodotoxin as an example, we see that the tetrodotoxin molecule binds to the channels that allow sodium ions the pass into and out of the nerve cell. Sodium ions are used as part of a "voltage gate" system.

Influx of sodium "fires" the neuron to send neutrotransmitters to the brain to signal pain or other reflex actions. Helena—or anyone else for that matter—to any plot against Napoleon's life. Aristocrats don't like revolution, and Napoleon made revolution. Napoleon had an affair—and fathered a child—with the count's wife. The count, it is observed, had charge of Napoleon's wine cellar and food.

Could he, motivated by revenge, have poisoned the wine? Fornes has reviewed the autopsy report and other historical records and concludes: "Napoleon may have died with cancer, but he didn't die of cancer.

In Fornes's opinion the accusation of murder by poisoning would never fly in a court of law. Believe what you will. During a one-man wildlife survey on a deserted Florida barrier island, herpetologist Bruce Means finds his favorite venomous reptile. Blood and other fluids begin to leak into his tissues. His blood is losing its ability to clot. Will he die? Bruse managed to reach a hospital—and survived, but the eastern diamond-back still claims an occasional life. Venom strength varies depending on the snake's age, when it last ate, the time of day the strike occurs, how deeply the fangs penetrate, and how much venom is injected.

Circulatory failure, shock, massive tissue necrosis, and internal and external blading lead to death. Medical help is the key, but some wait too long before seeking treatment. Others, often children, are just not robust enough to withstand the poison's lethal effect. One of the world's premier concert pianists, Fleisher was talking about the aftermath of a day in when the career so carefully nurtured his first public recital at 8; a performance with the New York Philharmonic in Carnegie Hall at 16 unexpectedly ended.

Fleisher, a man with a spirit as expansive as a Beethoven symphony, sits in the music room of his Baltimore home. Twin Steinway grands nest together; on one there are photographs of a young, gangly Leonard Bernstein and of George Szell, the legendary maestro of the Cleveland Orchestra "looking cold as ever," Fleisher notes.

The conversation drifts to the day in Cleveland's Severance Hall when Szell rehearsed Fleisher and the orchestra in final preparation for a tour of the Soviet Union. We were going to show the Russians what music was all about," Fleisher recalls.

I figured, Wow, I better work harder. I did. It got worse. George noticed too. When rehearsal ended, Szell called Fleisher to his study. That was it. Fleisher was His life had evaporated. There were doctors: orthopedists, neurologists, a hand surgeon, psychiatrists. There were injections, x-rays, medications, acupuncture, aromatherapy. All failed. All useless. I started conducting, playing the left-handed repertory, and teaching at the Peabody Conservatory.

There was, it should be noted, a brief respite in when the condition seemed to improve. Fleisher played at the opening of the Meyerhoff Hall in Baltimore. Afterward I broke down backstage. A grown man weeping After decades a diagnosis emerged. Fleisher was afflicted with focal dystonia, a misfiring of the brain that causes muscles to contract into abnormal, and sometimes painful, positions. The disorder often strikes those who depend on small motor skills: musicians, writers, surgeons.

At last relief seemed possible. He was referred to a clinical trial at the National Institutes of Health, where botulinum toxin was being tested as a remedy for the disabling contractions. Botulinum toxin is produced from the bacterium Clostridium botulinum, one of the most poisonous substances known. A gram of botulinum toxin, if dispersed and ingested, could kill 20 million people.

The toxin produces a protein that blocks the release of acetylcholine, a transmitter that tells a muscle to contract. In extremely dilute form the poison, delivered in the drug Botox, has proved effective and safe in medical applications ranging from the softening of wrinkles, to the relief of migraines, to a cure for crossed eyes, to a treatment for the spastic contractions of multiple sclerosis and cerebral palsy.

Botulinum toxin relieves symptoms without curing the condition, so Fleisher receives an injection every six months or so. But the six-month miracle is a miracle no less. For each there is cause to celebrate, but maybe most of all for the ninth. He is performing and touring again, and recently released his first two-handed recording in 40 years. Artur Schnabel, Fleisher's mentor, whose teacher's teacher was Beethoven himself, once said that life is about ascendancy.

A conductor beats up. A ballet dancer lifts up. We grow up and outward. Rye infected with ergot, a toxic fungus, has caused devastating epidemics through history. Symptoms include tremors and hallucinations; the hysteria of those accused of witchcraft in the 17th century may have been ergot poisoning. Spies were sometimes issued lethal pills hidden in objects like eyeglasses to use if captured. A popcorn cat poisoned several New England children in , when levels of orange food coloring reached toxic levels due to poor manufacturing controls.

Victims recovered, and the manufacturer recalled the other cats. The National Cancer Institute evaluates marine-animal toxins for potential cancer drugs. Animals with no armor and limited mobility rely on poison for defense. NCI scientist David Newman calls it "animal chemical warfare. Georgi Markov, a Bulgarian dissident, was assassinated in London in when a man approached and jabbed him with an umbrella modified to fire a pellet with ricin, a deadly toxin.

This replica is cut away to show the firing mechanism. In a man in Bedford, New York, died of botulinum poisoning after eating vichyssoise made by the Bon Vivant Company. Over a million cans of possibly under—:processed soup were recalled. The company filed for bankruptcy. Meet the fugu, aka Takifugu rubripes, a fish with the thick-lipped, thuggish face of a Chicago gangster.

Fugu, or puffer fish, as it is commonly known, is a delicacy in Japan. It can also be deadly. Those who eat the liver, ovaries, gonads, intestines, or skin swallow tetrodotoxin, a powerful neurotoxin that jams the flow of sodium ions into nerve cells and stops nerve impulses dead in their tracks. They run the risk of suffering the fate of the famous Kabuki actor Mitsugoro Bando, who in spent a night feasting on fugu liver because he enjoyed the pleasant tingling it created on his tongue and lips.

The tingling was followed by paralysis of his arms and legs, difficulty breathing, then, eight hours later—death. There is no known antidote. Fortunately, these days the making of a fugu chef is a carefully controlled and licensed enterprise.

Of the hopefuls who took last year's exam, 63 percent passed. The source of the fugu's poison is a subject of debate. Tamao Noguchi, a researcher at Nagasaki University, believes the secret lies in the fugu's diet. Puffer fish, he explains, ingest toxins from small organisms—mollusks, worms, or shellfish—that have in turn ingested a toxic bacterium known as vibrio. In experiments, Noguchi has raised fugu in cages, controlled their diet, and produced toxin-free fish.

He hopes his research will result in the state-sanctioned sale of fugu liver. Japan has forbidden the sale of fugu liver since ; before the ban, deaths of those who overindulged in the liver, or ate it by mistake, numbered in the hundreds.

If Noguchi succeeds in his efforts, gourmands may have cause to cheer, though the fish itself, he speculates, may have cause to mourn. He says the fugu's toxicity comes from poison glands beneath its skin. Some fugu are poisonous, he says, some aren't, but even experts can't tell which is which. Place your bets. Matsumura has never eaten fugu.

However, Noguchi considers it the ne plus ultra of fine dining. She oversees the medical investigation of all violent, suspicious, and unnatural deaths in Virginia, and she inspired the character Kay Scarpetta in Patricia Cornwell's crime novels.

Alphonse Poklis is director of toxicology and professor of pathology, chemistry, forensics, pharmacology, and toxicology at VCU. He works with Fierro to analyze medical evidence in homicide cases and testifies as an expert in court. MF: There are a couple of presentations. If someone takes a huge overdose of something toxic, you expect a classic range of symptoms even a first-year resident can pick up on.

Chronic poisonings—when toxins are fed slowly, continuously—are easier to misdiagnose. Antifreeze in the Gatorade was a recent case.

A common warning sign is when the clinical history is florid. For example, lots of trips to the internist for weird symptoms or stomach pains. The victim doesn't feel well; it's diffuse, nonspecific.

Of course over time classic elements of poisoning may present: He doesn't eat, he's losing weight, he's sounding more teched each day. It looks like natural disease, but isn't.

MF: We see any death that is sudden, unexpected, violent, or where there is allegation of foul play. If we have the body before it's in the ground, we deal with it. But often it takes time for an allegation to be made or for someone to believe it. Perhaps a family member has a motive: there's dissension about property, inheritance, a new wife, a child not getting a fair shake.

Those things set a chain of events into motion. The body has to be exhumed. MF: I take umpteen tissue samples at autopsy: heart, liver, lungs, brain, spleen, hair, nails. Blood tells you what was going on in the body at the time of death. Vitreous humor from the eye is great. It's clean.

No fermentation or contamination from bacteria. Al and I work together. What poisons are candidates? What best to collect? You have to have a strategy. We'd want to know what poison the defendant would have access to. If it's a farmer, we look for agricultural things like pesticides or herbicides. We need to have an idea of where we are going. We can easily run out of tissue and blood samples before we run out of tests to do.

AP: Very. I call it the vanishing zero. In the s it took 25 milliliters of blood to detect morphine. Today we can use one milliliter to do the same work. In terms of sensitivity, we've gone from micrograms to nanograms, which is parts per billion, to parts per trillion with mass spectrometry. You can find anything if you do the research. Of course some substances are more apparent. You can smell cyanide the minute you open a body at autopsy. Cyanide works fast—like in movies where the captured spy bites on the capsule and dies.

It's a chemical suffocation; cyanide hits the mitochondria in the cells, and every cell is deprived of oxygen. You die quickly, dramatically, violently. AP: The poisoner tries to cover up what he does, as opposed to somebody who shoots, strangles, or rapes you. A forensic psychologist I know calls poisoners custodial killers. Often you are dealing with a family situation. It happens over a period of months or a year.

The perpetrator is taking care of the victim, watching him die. Poison is the weapon of controlling, sneaky people with no conscience, no sorrow, no remorse. They are scary, manipulative; if you weren't convinced by the evidence, you wouldn't believe they could do such a thing. MF: Al sees the poisoner as a controller.

I see the poisoner as a smooth psychopath who could lie to Christ on the Cross, and you would believe him. I only know of two who pled guilty. MF: There was this fellow at the University of Virginia hospital. Kept getting admitted for weird gastrointestinal complaints. The doctors were twisting themselves inside out to figure it out.

He'd get better; his wife would come in to see him in the hospital and bring him banana pudding. Someone finally ordered a heavy metals [toxicity tests] on him, but he was discharged before the results came back—off the charts for arsenic. By the time someone saw the labs it was too late. We called the wife Banana Pudding Lily. AP: Frankly, relatively few. It's not in the American character. If you are going to kill someone and you are a true American, you shoot them.

A real man doesn't sneak around. In our culture everything is solved in 30 minutes, so you aren't going to plan, go someplace to get poison, and figure out How am I going to give it? In our culture, we act directly. When you think about it, not much has changed in years. Spies, assassinations, covert contracts, secret payoffs—it's all part of the everyday business of running a country. In Renaissance Italy "poison was the solution to delicate political problems," says Paolo Preto, a professor of modern history at the University of Padua.

So it should be no surprise that poisoning was as much an art as painting, architecture, or sculpture. A touch of arsenic, hemlock, or hellebore added to the wine was discreet, nearly undetectable autopsies were rare at the time , and considerably less messy than using a knife or gun. As pope, Alexander appointed wealthy men as bishops and cardinals, allowed them to increase their holdings, then invited them to dinner.

The house wine, dry, with overtones of arsenic, neatly dispatched the guests, whose wealth, by church law, then reverted to their host. English essayist Max Beerbohm wrote: "The Borgias selected and laid down rare poisons in their cellars with as much thought as they gave to their vintage wines.

Though you would often in the 15th century have heard the snobbish Roman say But the capital of conspiracy in Italy was Venice, where the architects of evil were the Council of Ten, a special tribunal created to avert plots and crimes against the state.

To accomplish poisoning, the council would contract with an assassin, usually from another city. What happens when poison is inside the body. The effects of poison. When systemic effects happen. Chapter 2 - How poisoning happens. Accidental poisoning. Using poison to harm other people. Poison in food or drink. Medical poisoning. Abuse of drugs, chemicals or plants. The benefits and dangers of using chemicals.

Chapter 3 - How to prevent poisoning. How you can help people make their homes, workplaces, and the community safer. What can be done to prevent poisoning? How to make homes safe. How to prevent poisoning with pesticides. What employers can do to prevent poisoning at work.

How to avoid snake bites. How to prevent insect, spider and scorpion stings and bites. How to avoid eating poisonous plants, mushrooms and fish. How to avoid infection from food contaminated with germs.

Chapter 4 - What to do in an emergency. The dangers to look out for. What to do in an emergency. Chapter 5 - First aid. Give first aid at once. First aid for poisoning. Using traditional medicines to treat poisonous bites and stings. Chapter 6 - Getting medical help. If you can get to a hospital in less than two hours. If you are a long way from a hospital. If you cannot get medical help quickly. Taking the patient to hospital. What to do after you have read this chapter. Chapter 7 - Examining the patient.

Symptoms and signs. What the examination cannot tell you. When the patient does not have any symptoms or signs. How to examine a patient and find out the symptoms and signs. Patterns of symptoms and signs. Chapter 8 - Finding out what happened.

Talking to people. Look for the poison or other things that show you what happened. What to do next. Chapter 9 - How to look after a poisoned patient outside hospital.

What to do when the patient has swallowed poison.