Cantharidin (Spanish Fly)
This is an excerpt from the paper...
The pharmacologic potential of the substance, cantharides, has been known for thousands of years. This crude concoction is produced by grinding dried blister beetles. The best known blister beetle is Cantharis vesicatoria, or the Spanish fly. The agent responsible for cantharides' physiologic effects is the chemical, cantharidin. One of the many consequences of cantharidin ingestion is priapism. This finding has caused many to mistakenly assume that cantharides, or rather "Spanish fly," is an aphrodisiac. While the substance may in fact cause priapism, its primary pharmacologic effects are actually those of a potent toxin. People have used Cantharides powder since at least the time of Hippocrates (10:33). In fact, Hippocrates himself recommended it for the treatment of dropsy. During the Greco Roman period cantharides was also used to treat pleurisy, pericarditis, and amenorrhea (11:444). Perhaps it was during its employment as a therapeutic agent that the powder's effects on the genitourinary tract were first noticed. The active ingredient of cantharides, cantharidin, is a potent irritant. In nearly toxic doses, its irritant effects cause priapism (permanent erection) in men, and pelvic congestion (with occasional uterine bleeding) in women. Through the ages these physiologic findings may have been misinterpreted as increased sexuality. Cantharides use as a love potion is well rooted in folklore (7:591). As far back as the first c
. . .
by Leaman and Gorman (1989), however, failed to show any differences between patients who received cantharidin and those who received placebo. The study concluded, therefore, that any therapeutic success attributed to the remedy must result from psychological rather than pharmacologic factors.
In another investigation, Clausen (1979) found that cantharidin affected cell regeneration (11:445). The study observed shortened the G2 phases of mitosis in mice. This resulted in an overall reduction of the normal 54 hour cell cycle to 10 12 hours (11:445). The observation is significant. Shortening of the cell cycle could be one mechanism by which cantharidin causes the suprabasal cellular proliferation in the epidermis and, consequently, acantholysis. In the mice, the effect seemed to dissipate after an average of two cycles.
Miscellaneous uses for cantharidin include the treatment of urinary tract ailments (7:592). The compound has been employed with some success in the treatment of bilharzic calcification of the bladder mucosa. It has also been suggested that cantharidin might prove therapeutically useful for cases of interstitial cystitis.
In the past, cantharidin was also employed in veterinary medicine. However, be
. . .
Some common words found in the essay are:
V2 V3, Nicholls Teare, Leaman Gorman, Vichower Cohen, H12 O4, South Africa, People Cantharides, Ferdinand Catholic, North American, USP Cantharone, cantharidin poisoning, spanish fly, medical journal, blister beetle, blister beetles, effects include, cantharidin toxicosis, species blister beetle, mucous membranes, blister forming, cellular proliferation epidermis, cellular proliferation, peripheral vascular collapse, associated cantharidin poisoning, southern medical journal,
Approximate Word count = 2909
Approximate Pages = 12 (250 words per page)
More Essays on Cantharidin (Spanish Fly)
|
Customer Service
to Over
32,000 Professionally Written Papers!!!
