Cyanide antidotes

Cyanide antidotes：nitrites and sodium thiosulfate之作用機轉

• The nitrites oxidize some of the hemoglobin's iron from the ferrous state to the ferric state, converting the hemoglobin into methemoglobin. (Treatment with nitrites is not innocuous as methemoglobin cannot carry oxygen, and methemoglobinemia needs to be treated in turn with methylene blue).
• Cyanide preferentially bonds to methemoglobin rather than the cytochrome oxidase, converting methemoglobin into cyanmethemoglobin.
• In the last step, the intravenous sodium thiosulfate converts the cyanmethemoglobin to thiocyanate, sulfite, and hemoglobin. The thiocyanate is excreted.