EFFECT OF OXYGEN ON CYANIDE INTOXICATION. V. PHYSIOLOGIC EFFECTS

¹ Department of Veterinary Physiology and Pharmacology; Department of Veterinary Clinical Medicine and Surgery, College of Veterinary Medicine and College of Pharmacy, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington

The prophylactic effects of air and oxygen either alone or in various combinations with sodium nitrite and/or sodium thiosulfate on various physiologic parameters were evaluated in dogs receiving sodium cyanide. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure, heart rate, central venous pressure, respiration rate, respiration depth, electrocardiogram, electroencephalogram and percent methemoglobin were the physiologic parameters examined. The results of air and oxygen were analyzed statistically employing the paired t test. There was a reduction in the length of electrical silence and a more rapid recovery of the normal electroencephalogram when oxygen was employed. Furthermore, sodium thiosulfate or sodium nitrite and sodium thiosulfate in combination with oxygen produced a similar electroencephalographic response. Although cyanide produces many other profound physiologic changes, under the conditions of our experimental design the differences between air and oxygen on these physiologic parameters were not statistically significant. The ability of oxygen to reverse cyanide-induced electrocardiographic alterations could not be supported.