Experiments on antimony compounds used in the treatment of Bilharzia disease and kala-azar / by W.H. Gray and J.W. Trevan.

  • Gray, William Herbert.
Date:
[1931]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Experiments on antimony compounds used in the treatment of Bilharzia disease and kala-azar / by W.H. Gray and J.W. Trevan. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Hans Schmidt and his collaborators (1930) to whom was due the discovery and early development of the organic antimonials, have more recently turned their attention to a class of substances in which the instability and toxic properties of tartar emetic are avoided in a different way from that recounted above, and these have found favour in the mass treatment of bilharziasis. The molecular formula of tartar emetic is still under discussion, but the most satisfactory expression yet put forward is VII (Reihlen and Hezel, 1931). The new compounds of this type are complex salts of antimony, chemically related to tartar emetic, in which more powerfully complex-forming agents than tartaric or similar acids have been used, namely the aromatic hydroxy-compounds, catechol and other polyhydric phenols. Specific treatment of bilharziasis with tartar emetic, introduced by McDonagh (1915) and Christopherson (1918), suffered from the disadvantages due to the acidity of tartar emetic, the aqueous solution of which has pH 4-5, and its instability at the pH of the tissues, already mentioned. The introduction of sulphonic acid groups, -S03H, into the sparingly soluble antimony catechol compounds, to render them soluble, was found to be accompanied by an increase in stability as well, and in “ antimosan ” (VIII), CHOy COOK ,1JH20 VII. H H C c / w \ 11 ko3s—c c—o\ 0—c c—so3k 1 Sb II | ,7H„0 H—C C—0^- 0—C C—H \ // / \ II c K C so3k so3k VIII. a soluble and stable neutral compound was obtained which was preferable to tartar emetic, particularly for mass treatment. Still better results were obtained when all the potassium atoms in “ antimosan ” were replaced by sodium, and a 6*3 per cent, aqueous solution of the sodium salt is now in routine use in the Egyptian hospitals under the name of “ Fuadin.” The trypanocidal activity of “ urea stibamine ” and its constituents was worked out by intravenous injection into mice infected with Trypanosoma equiperdum. We attempted to decrease the effect of the variability of the mice and of the condition of the strain of trypanosomes by the following procedure :— 1.—All experiments were made with control infected groups of mice