Medical Countermeasures Against Chemical Threats

Cellular Respiration

Long-Term Goals

• Conduct safety and efficacy studies with promising drugs and identify effective routes of administration that would lead to timely intervention
• Identify the major mechanisms and pathways by which sulfur donors, methemoglobin formers, and cobalt compounds counteract cyanide toxicity in different systems of the body
• Expand the NIH research infrastructure to enable preclinical and clinical studies of compounds with promising anti-cyanide activity
• Develop rapid diagnostic tests and assays to identify specific biological markers consistent with cyanide exposure and the level of exposure to such agents
• Identify any long-term or chronic health effects resulting from exposure to hydrogen cyanide, the cyanide-containing salts, and/or cyanogen chloride
• Establish databases of clinical, epidemiological, and laboratory information that will contribute to the understanding of the acute and chronic health effects of high- and low-level exposures to cyanide-containing compounds
• Review current therapeutic interventions with oxygen and assess the value of other proposed alternatives, such as the use of hyperbaric oxygen in the treatment of cyanide-induced toxicity

back to top