Strychnine intoxication

Gordon, Antonio M.; Richards, David

doi:10.1016/s0361-1124(79)80299-3

Cited by 20 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 6 publications

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“…In dogs, cats, horses and human beings it has been reported that, five to 15 minutes after ingestion, the absorption of strychnine is followed by nervousness, tenseness of muscles, trembling, extension spasms, tetanic seizures, opisthotonus, convulsions, dyspnoea, respiratory paralysis, mydriasis, cyanosis, signs of pain, hyperthermia, exhaustion, lactic acidosis and rhabdomyolysis (Boyd and others 1983, Smith 1990). Thereafter, hypoxia and lactic acidosis may result in organ failure, particularly after rhabdomyolysis (Gordon and Richards 1979, Palatnick and others 1997). As a result of the spasms, many animals poisoned by strychnine die in a state of exhaustion.…”

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Atypical time course of clinical signs in a dog poisoned by strychnine

Meiser

2002

Veterinary Record

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The general health of a German shepherd dog had deteriorated slightly when it was found after being loose for one hour. After 10 hours of observation, the dog showed signs of pain for the first time and signs of poisoning, such as tenseness of muscles, slight opisthotonus, regurgitation, salivation, mydriasis, dyspnoea and cyanosis, were observed; it died 15 minutes after showing the first clinical signs but it had no seizures or tetanic spasms at any time. A postmortem examination did not reveal any pathological changes. A screening test for alkaloids was positive for strychnine (strychnidin-10-one). The presence of strychnine was confirmed and its concentration was determined by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry in urine (728.5 ng/ml) and in the stomach contents (44.6m microg/g). No strychnine was detected in the dog's serum, but traces of brucine (2,3-dimethoxystrychnidin-10-one), the dimethoxy derivative of strychnine, were detected. This case was compared with other strychnine poisonings recorded in the authors' laboratory over the previous six years, taking into account the species, type of samples, the clinical signs and their duration, the postmortem findings, and the concentrations of strychnine. This was the only case to show such an atypical time course of clinical signs.

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confidence: 99%