Study Of Eels Leads To Nerve Gas Antidote
April 16, 2018 at 3:11 p.m.
By Max [email protected]
Such gases, derived from organophosphates, paralyze the nervous system and are the deadliest weapons used in chemical warfare. They are odorless, stable, easily dispersed and invisible, and have rapid effects when absorbed through the skin, swallowed or inhaled. The vapor from just three drops can kill the enemy in minutes. Under optimal conditions with a brisk wind blowing at ground level, guided missiles containing the gas could destroy 90 percent of all life within many square miles.
There was a desperate need for an antidote and the USACC sought help from a scientist in the United States with expert knowledge about nerve physiology. Fortunately, that individual happened to be Dr. David Nachmansohn, professor of biochemistry at Columbia University in New York City.
He was given the top secret assignment to investigate the gases' action and, if possible, contrive a means to counteract the effects. Perhaps no one in history had faced a similar circumstance with so little time to respond with a solution. Even stranger is that the assignment was contingent upon the availability and the collection of electric eels.
Nerve Gases
Organophosphate compounds were first synthesized in the early 1800s when Jean Louis Lassaigne reacted alcohol with phosphoric acid. In 1936, German chemist Gerhard Schrader, while employed by IG Fargen, discovered that several compounds, including bladan and parathion, were very effective insecticides. The compounds killed insects by interrupting their nervous systems and similarly affecting the cholinergic nervous systems in humans, inducing shortness of breath, choking and dimming of vision. During that same time he accidently discovered tabun — an extremely toxic compound stockpiled today as a nerve agent.
During World War II, under the Nazi regime, teams led by Schrader discovered two more organophosphate nerve agents, Sarin (1938) and Soman (1944). During the war the German military banned the use of organophosphates as insecticides and instead began developing an arsenal. (Sadly, there have been recent reports of sarin being used by the Syrian government during the conflict there.)
David Nachmansohn
Dr. David Nachmansohn (1899-1983) was born in Russia, grew up in Germany and received a medical degree from the University of Berlin in 1926. He conducted research at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute of Biology until 1933. When Hitler assumed power, Nachmansohn fled to Paris and spent six years at the University of Paris. He came to the United States at the invitation of Yale University and after three years joined Columbia University in 1942. His greatest accomplishment was identifying isolating and analyzing chemicals responsible for the complex process by which impulses are generated along nerve and muscle fibers.
Nachmansohn was influenced in the 1930s by the work of Sir Henry Dale, who proposed that acetylcholine transmits nerve impulses across junctions between neurons and muscle and that acetylcholine was rapidly hydrolyzed (inactivated) by an enzyme, acetylcholine esterase. He soon discovered that acetylcholine esterase was present in high concentrations in many types of excitable nerve and muscle fibers.
Earlier Nachmansohn had read an article describing the electrical organs of fish and managed to obtain tissues from electric eels to study. He confirmed the fact that their tissues contained exceedingly high concentrations of acetylcholine esterase, and he used his findings to discover an antidote for nerve gas poisoning. It was the first compound designed on purely theoretical grounds.
Electric Eels
Electric eels are closely related to catfish; their scientific name is Electrophorus electricus. They are found in South America, particularly in the Amazon and Orinoco River basins, and can attain a length of up to 8 feet and weigh up to 45 pounds. The body is elongated and cylindrical, almost without scales, with a flattened head.
An eel has multiple cells (electrocytes), numbering in the hundreds of thousands, along its body that create a change in potential of up to 600 volts, with a typical current of about 1 ampere. (600 volts has the same potential as 360 D-cell batteries connected together and is five times that of a U.S. electrical outlet.)
The electric eel is one of just a few species using electrical discharges that act like a biological taser to capture prey and defend against predators. For humans, a single jolt could incapacitate a person long enough to cause him or her to drown even in shallow water.
Electric eels were useful in early understanding of electricity and helped to inspire Volta's invention of the battery in 1799. Today, efforts are being made to build artificial cells that can replicate the electrical behavior of electric eel cells and possibly to drive future implantable medical devices. Researchers have teamed up to develop an electric eel-inspired power source that would remain inside the body, completely eliminating the need for batteries.
We indeed live in a surprisingly strange and shocking world.
Max Sherman is a medical writer and pharmacist retired from the medical device industry. He has taught college courses on regulatory and compliance issues at Ivy Tech, Grace College and Butler University. Sherman has an unquenchable thirst for knowledge on all levels. Eclectic Science, the title of his column, will touch on famed doctors and scientists, human senses, aging, various diseases, and little-known facts about many species, including their contributions to scientific research. He can be reached by email at maxsherman339@ gmail.com.
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Such gases, derived from organophosphates, paralyze the nervous system and are the deadliest weapons used in chemical warfare. They are odorless, stable, easily dispersed and invisible, and have rapid effects when absorbed through the skin, swallowed or inhaled. The vapor from just three drops can kill the enemy in minutes. Under optimal conditions with a brisk wind blowing at ground level, guided missiles containing the gas could destroy 90 percent of all life within many square miles.
There was a desperate need for an antidote and the USACC sought help from a scientist in the United States with expert knowledge about nerve physiology. Fortunately, that individual happened to be Dr. David Nachmansohn, professor of biochemistry at Columbia University in New York City.
He was given the top secret assignment to investigate the gases' action and, if possible, contrive a means to counteract the effects. Perhaps no one in history had faced a similar circumstance with so little time to respond with a solution. Even stranger is that the assignment was contingent upon the availability and the collection of electric eels.
Nerve Gases
Organophosphate compounds were first synthesized in the early 1800s when Jean Louis Lassaigne reacted alcohol with phosphoric acid. In 1936, German chemist Gerhard Schrader, while employed by IG Fargen, discovered that several compounds, including bladan and parathion, were very effective insecticides. The compounds killed insects by interrupting their nervous systems and similarly affecting the cholinergic nervous systems in humans, inducing shortness of breath, choking and dimming of vision. During that same time he accidently discovered tabun — an extremely toxic compound stockpiled today as a nerve agent.
During World War II, under the Nazi regime, teams led by Schrader discovered two more organophosphate nerve agents, Sarin (1938) and Soman (1944). During the war the German military banned the use of organophosphates as insecticides and instead began developing an arsenal. (Sadly, there have been recent reports of sarin being used by the Syrian government during the conflict there.)
David Nachmansohn
Dr. David Nachmansohn (1899-1983) was born in Russia, grew up in Germany and received a medical degree from the University of Berlin in 1926. He conducted research at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute of Biology until 1933. When Hitler assumed power, Nachmansohn fled to Paris and spent six years at the University of Paris. He came to the United States at the invitation of Yale University and after three years joined Columbia University in 1942. His greatest accomplishment was identifying isolating and analyzing chemicals responsible for the complex process by which impulses are generated along nerve and muscle fibers.
Nachmansohn was influenced in the 1930s by the work of Sir Henry Dale, who proposed that acetylcholine transmits nerve impulses across junctions between neurons and muscle and that acetylcholine was rapidly hydrolyzed (inactivated) by an enzyme, acetylcholine esterase. He soon discovered that acetylcholine esterase was present in high concentrations in many types of excitable nerve and muscle fibers.
Earlier Nachmansohn had read an article describing the electrical organs of fish and managed to obtain tissues from electric eels to study. He confirmed the fact that their tissues contained exceedingly high concentrations of acetylcholine esterase, and he used his findings to discover an antidote for nerve gas poisoning. It was the first compound designed on purely theoretical grounds.
Electric Eels
Electric eels are closely related to catfish; their scientific name is Electrophorus electricus. They are found in South America, particularly in the Amazon and Orinoco River basins, and can attain a length of up to 8 feet and weigh up to 45 pounds. The body is elongated and cylindrical, almost without scales, with a flattened head.
An eel has multiple cells (electrocytes), numbering in the hundreds of thousands, along its body that create a change in potential of up to 600 volts, with a typical current of about 1 ampere. (600 volts has the same potential as 360 D-cell batteries connected together and is five times that of a U.S. electrical outlet.)
The electric eel is one of just a few species using electrical discharges that act like a biological taser to capture prey and defend against predators. For humans, a single jolt could incapacitate a person long enough to cause him or her to drown even in shallow water.
Electric eels were useful in early understanding of electricity and helped to inspire Volta's invention of the battery in 1799. Today, efforts are being made to build artificial cells that can replicate the electrical behavior of electric eel cells and possibly to drive future implantable medical devices. Researchers have teamed up to develop an electric eel-inspired power source that would remain inside the body, completely eliminating the need for batteries.
We indeed live in a surprisingly strange and shocking world.
Max Sherman is a medical writer and pharmacist retired from the medical device industry. He has taught college courses on regulatory and compliance issues at Ivy Tech, Grace College and Butler University. Sherman has an unquenchable thirst for knowledge on all levels. Eclectic Science, the title of his column, will touch on famed doctors and scientists, human senses, aging, various diseases, and little-known facts about many species, including their contributions to scientific research. He can be reached by email at maxsherman339@ gmail.com.
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