PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - DON R. JOSEPH
AU  - S. J. MELTZER
TI  - THE LIFE-SAVING ACTION OF PHYSOSTIGMIN IN POISONING BY MAGNESIUM SALTS
DP  - 1909 Oct 01
TA  - Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics
PG  - 369--387
VI  - 1
IP  - 3
4099  - http://jpet.aspetjournals.org/content/1/3/369.short
4100  - http://jpet.aspetjournals.org/content/1/3/369.full
SO  - J Pharmacol Exp Ther1909 Oct 01; 1
AB  - Physostigmin is capable of efficiently antagonizing some of the toxic actions of magnesium salts. It may directly serve as a life-saving agent against a fatal poisoning by magnesium salts, if the dose of the latter employed be not too large. Physostigmin overcomes the toxic effects of magnesium essentially by the aid it renders to the depressed function of respiration. This aid is of threefold origin. It stimulates the respiratory center; it antagonizes the "curare-like" action of the magnesium-ion upon the nerve endings of the respiratory muscles; and it stimulates the nerve endings of the pneumogastric nerves within the lungs. Physostigmin antagonizes also the magnesium action upon the peripheral nerve endings and probably also the action upon muscle tissue. The extent of this antagonism, however, seems to be not very significant.