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| Toxicity Summary |
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| Link to the Distributed Structure-Searchable Toxicity (DSSTox) Database |
| IDENTIFICATION AND USE: Strychnine is a solid. It is used chiefly in poison baits set for squirrels, gophers, rabbits, and some lesser rodents. Baits are usually colored grains containing 0.5-1% of the sulfate. It has been used as Has been used as a tonic and central stimulant in veterinary medicine. HUMAN STUDIES: The clinical syndrome of strychnine poisoning is very characteristic. The initial symptoms are stiffness and twitching of face and neck muscles and movements may be abrupt. Reflex excitability is heightened and sudden tactile, visual, or acoustic stimuli induce violent motor responses. Within 30 min after ingestion, full tetanic convulsion and opisthotonos develop. Death is due to brain damage secondary to apnea from uncontrolled seizures or cardiac arrest. In most severe cases of strychnine poisoning, the patient dies before reaching the hospital. The lethal dose to man 30-60 mg/kg. ANIMAL STUDIES: Intravitreal injection of strychnine (0.0012 M) in rabbits has had little or no effect on the ERG or light-induced optic nerve potential, but IV injection in cats has been reported to increase the spontaneous electrical activity of the optic nerve neurons. An effect on frog retina has also been observed. The toxicity of strychnine in rats was sex-dependent with the male being more tolerant to strychnine than the female. At doses of about 8 mg/kg in males and 2.5 mg/kg in females no histopathological or hematological changes were observed following administration of strychnine for 28 days. Administering strychnine, a potent antagonist of glycine receptors, to pregnant rats caused marked toxic effects on the embryos. The embryotoxic effects of strychnine were compared with those induced by retinal palmitate during rat neurulation, and it was found that strychnine was stronger than retinal palmitate in a number of abnormalities such as anencephaly, general aplasy and abnormal cerebral vesicles. The dog and cat are the more susceptible of the domestic animals, pigs are believed to be as susceptible as dogs, and horses are able to tolerate relatively larger amounts of strychnine. Cattle are much more resistant to the ingestion of strychnine or nux vomica, presumably because of its partial destruction in the rumen. The lethal dose of strychnine in most species is somewhere between 0.2 and 1.0 mg/kg. ECOTOXICITY STUDIES: Signs of intoxication following acute oral intake in fowls: feathers fluffed or held tightly against the body, low or high carriage, ataxia or asynergy, fasciculation, salivation, tremors, hyperacusis, muscle tenseness, recurring convulsions, anorexia, tachycardia, immobility, violent convulsions or opisthotonos. |
| Source: DrugBank or Hazardous Substances Data Bank (HSDB) |