THE USE OF BAL (BRITISH ANTI-LEWISITE) IN THE TREATMENT OF THE INJURIOUS EFFECTS OF ARSENIC, MERCURY AND OTHER METALLIC POISONS
Authors: W T LONGCOPE, J A LUETSCHER
Journal: Annals of Internal Medicine (1949)

Article1 October 1949THE USE OF BAL (BRITISH ANTI-LEWISITE) IN THE TREATMENT OF THE INJURIOUS EFFECTS OF ARSENIC, MERCURY AND OTHER METALLIC POISONSWARFIELD T. LONGCOPE, F.A.C.P., JOHN A. LUETSCHER JR.WARFIELD T. LONGCOPE, F.A.C.P.Search for more papers by this author, JOHN A. LUETSCHER JR.Search for more papers by this authorAuthor, Article, and Disclosure Informationhttps://doi.org/10.7326/0003-4819-31-4-545 SectionsAboutPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail ExcerptBAL (which stands for British Anti-Lewisite) or 2,3-dimercaptopropanol is a chemical found by Stocken and Thompson while working in Professor Peters' laboratory in Oxford, to be an effective antidote to Lewisite. This discovery made during the war represents the culmination of a long series of important investigations carried on for many years by several investigators, but especially by Professor Peters and his associates in Oxford. For some time it had been known that the injurious effect of arsenic depends upon its attachment to the sulfhydryl groups of cellular proteins thus interfering with the function of essential enzymes which require the...Bibliography1. VOEGTLINDYERLEONARD CHACS: On the mechanism of the action of arsenic upon protoplasm, Pub. Health Rep., 1923, xxxviii, 1882. CrossrefGoogle Scholar2. STOCKENTHOMPSON LARH: British Anti-Lewisite. I. Arsenic derivatives of thiol proteins, Biochem. Jr., 1946, xl, 529. CrossrefGoogle Scholar3. STOCKENTHOMPSON LARH: British Anti-Lewisite. II. Dithiol compounds as antidotes for arsenic, Biochem. Jr., 1946, xl, 535. CrossrefGoogle Scholar4. PETERSSTOCKENTHOMPSON RALARH: British Anti-Lewisite (BAL), Nature, London, 1945, clvi, 616. CrossrefGoogle Scholar5. WATERSSTOCK LLC: BAL (British Anti-Lewisite), Science, 1945, cii, 601. CrossrefGoogle Scholar6. PETERS RA: Pharmacology and biochemical lesions, Proc. Royal Soc. Med., 1948, xli, 781. CrossrefGoogle Scholar7. 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