For those who have not yet heard, there have recently been toxic chemical attacks in Syria that have killed hundreds of citizens outside the capital of Damascus. Many news outlets believe that this is the work of the government against its own people in a tragic demonstration of power. Most specialists seem to think that the deaths were caused by nerve gas due to the lack of wounds on subjects as well as several other symptoms. This has previously been defined by President Obama to be a "red line", which would prompt "enormous consequences" should we find out that they are being used(presumably through US military involvement).But what are nerve agents and what do they do?
Simply put, nerve agents are biochemical weapons that affect the nervous system by inhibiting certain neural enzymes. It is considered to be a weapon of mass destruction because they are very toxic and spread rapidly.
It's necessary to review a bit about the nervous system to understand the effects of nerve agents. A class of neural enzymes are called neurotransmitters and are essentially responsible for the proper transmission of impulses, the mechanism through which the brain sends messages. Particularly, acetylcholine(ACh) is important because it controls the contraction of a variety of muscles. However, ACh is fairly ubiquitous and can be found in many different types of motor neural pathways in both the peripheral and central nervous systems(PNS & CNS).
ACh is controlled by acetylcholinesterase, a neural enzyme that breaks down ACh, which allows muscles to relax. Nerve agents inhibit this enzyme which leaves muscles in a state of constant contraction and excitement. It basically acts as an "OFF" switch for neurons, so without it they are constantly "ON". The effect of prolonged neural stimulation can be absolutely horrendous. Initially, subjects will feel nauseous and their pupils will constrict but that can escalate to vomiting, crying and an inability to control bowel and muscular movements(paralysis). The ultimate cause of death however, is from hypoventilation or complete respiratory depression. Subjects will not be able to breathe and take in enough oxygen to offset the carbon dioxide levels in blood. Since the heart is also controlled by muscular contractions, subjects' heart rates can be much faster than normal, which may exacerbate the condition through increased blood flow.
Personally I think that biochemical warfare is more terrifying than traditional tactics because according to the BBC(info originally compiled by the CDC), this nerve agent was odorless, colorless and tasteless. It spreads quickly and does not discriminate subjects(it can even be mixed into water!); it's basically undetectable. For Sarin in particular, the time between inhalation and death could be minutes which is not a lot of time to administer antidotes, especially if there is little way to know that there are nerve agents present.
I know this isn't the most polished piece ever(I wrote it up as soon as I saw what was on the news) but I thought it was a really important topic. I myself didn't know a lot about nerve agents before I wrote this, so I hope it was informative; I will continue posting sources for you to learn about it for yourself.
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Resources:
- ATSDR Case Studies in Environmental Medicine: Cholinesterase Inhibitors, Including Pesticides and Chemical Warfare Nerve Agents U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
- AChE inhibitors and substrates – 2wfz, 2wg0, 2wg1, 1som in Proteopedia
- [Brain hypoxia and the role of active forms of oxygen and of energy deficit in the neuron degeneration].-Review
- Emergency management of chemical weapons injuries.-Review
- Center for Disease Control: Sarin Overview
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