Efficacy Evaluation of Physostigmine and Anticholinergic Adjuncts as a Pretreatment for Nerve Agent Intoxication

Efficacy Evaluation of Physostigmine and Anticholinergic Adjuncts as a Pretreatment for Nerve Agent Intoxication, VON BREDOW, J., CORCORAN, K., MAITLAND, G., KAMINSKIS, A., ADAMS, N., AND WADE, J. (1991). Fundam. Appl Toxicol 17, 782–789. Pretreatment of nonhuman primates with physostigmine (Phy) and scopolamine or physostigmine and trihexyphenidyl 25 min before exposure to 2 LD50 soman im resulted in complete survival without convulsions or loss of consciousness. When identically pretreated animals were challenged with 5 LD50s of soman followed by atropine and 2-PAM therapy 1 min later, all animals experienced a loss of consciousness for approximately 10 min followed by functional recovery within an additional 20 min. These findings indicated that a pretreatment regimen composed of Phy and cholinolytic is capable of protecting primates from an absolute lethal dose of soman with rapid recovery from incapacitation.