I was wondering: what makes things poisonous? Is it a chemical reaction within the body that produces corrosive compounds (or whatever else) or is it
a certain chemical inhibiting certain body processes? The idea was: Sodium azide (NaN3) is as toxic as cyanide, but all it is is three nitrogens
bonded to a metal. Why?Sulaiman - 7-4-2016 at 09:35
It's a very broad question. Some poisons block nerves. Others attack cells. Some replace necessary nutrients. Toxicology is a big field. It's mostly
taught in med schools. I had an outstanding Tox prof. His name was Shulgin. You might have heard of him ;^)unionised - 7-4-2016 at 12:19
I was wondering: what makes things poisonous?
...
The idea was: Sodium azide (NaN3) is as toxic as cyanide, but all it is is three nitrogens bonded to a metal. Why?
What makes things poisonous is the dose.
Enough water or oxygen will kill you.
In the particular case of azide there is some suggestion that the mechanism is similar to that for cyanide- the ion forms a complex with copper ions
in enzymes that are crucial to the body's use of oxygen.
However, that can't be the whole story. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17724902PHILOU Zrealone - 8-4-2016 at 05:23
Biochemistry is very complex machinery system.
If you have a molecule that comes into this highly regulated system and that is not suited, it may react chemically (or interact) with an important
molecule and reduce, disable, or change its normal reaction pathway.
The target molecule can be a final stage molecule and so the effect is localised to that quantity and its field of action; but if the target molecule
is an initial stage molecule (imagine a catalytic enzyme) then the effect has more consequences to all the following process...so the field of action
can be enhanced manyfold.
Some poisons are highly specific to a given biochemical pathway; others are much less specific and work erratically (statistically) on all body
parts...this explains that the poison is important but also the dose.Loptr - 8-4-2016 at 08:38
It's a very broad question. Some poisons block nerves. Others attack cells. Some replace necessary nutrients. Toxicology is a big field. It's mostly
taught in med schools. I had an outstanding Tox prof. His name was Shulgin. You might have heard of him ;^)
Yes, very broad question. There are many mechanisms currently being used by your body, any of which can be attacked with an end result being your
death.
@chemrox, that is very interesting. How long ago were you a student of his? What was he like? He was certainly a very fascinating person.MeshPL - 12-4-2016 at 07:15
Most things just react with others, already present and necessary in your body in a bad way, binding to hemoglobin, disturbing metabolical pathways,
binding to important proteins.mnick12 - 12-4-2016 at 13:55
Yes, like the others said its very broad.
From observation though many of the highly acutely toxic compounds interfere with crucial biological processes. I believe azide, like cyanide, binds
and inhibits cytochrome oxidase which is essential for respiration and the reason why it is so toxic.PHILOU Zrealone - 13-4-2016 at 10:32
If you bite it and you die, its poisonous. If it bites you and you die, its venomous. If it bites your friend and you die, its voodoo.PHILOU Zrealone - 13-4-2016 at 13:19
From observation though many of the highly acutely toxic compounds interfere with crucial biological processes. I believe azide, like cyanide, binds
and inhibits cytochrome oxidase which is essential for respiration and the reason why it is so toxic.
The more fundamental or systemic the process, the greater the consequence of disrupting it.
If you would draw a dependency diagram showing the the dependent interrelationships between biology processes, and then choose a process to disrupt,
all of the dependent processes would be disrupted as well. I know nothing of toxicology but it seems like this would be an obvious trend, but I am
sure there are many exceptions and places where this would break down, as seems to be the case as usual with biology.
