Insights on Cyanide Toxicify and Methods of Treatment

摘要

Cyanide-mediated histotoxic anoxia is thought to occur by inhibiting the enzyme cytochrome c oxidase (Warburg, 1911; Keilin, 1929). Cytochrome c oxidase is the terminal electron acceptor in the mitochondrial electron transport chain, shuttling reducing equivalents from cytochrome c to diatomic oxygen, producing water. Cyanide inhibits cytochrome c oxidase by covalently binding to the active site iron and copper of the enzyme (Thomson 1985). Inhibition of cytochrome c oxidase is thought to abolish tissue utilization of oxygen, and many symptoms of cyanide intoxication have been reported to stem from ATP depletion as a consequence of that critical step.