"By blocking this neurotransmitter, patients exhibit signs and symptoms which include constricted pupils, large amounts of salivation/bronchial and lung secretions, involuntary urination, and ultimately convulsions and death due to the inability of the respiratory muscles to work, causing asphyxiation," Khare says.Ītropine is the most common drug used to combat nerve gases. Without the acetylcholinesterase to moderate the signals, the parasympathetic system is flooded with acetylcholine, resulting in overstimulation of the nerve cells. Khare tells PopMech that nerve agents such as sarin disrupt the parasympathetic system by blocking the neurotransmitter acetylcholinesterase, which breaks down acetylcholine, another neurotransmitter that controls several functions within the cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, urinary, and respiratory systems. The sympathetic controls the "fight or flight" response, while the parasympathetic helps the body relax and digest food and is sometimes referred to as the "rest and digest" system. The autonomic nervous system is then further broken down into the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems. The human nervous system has two branches: the voluntary, which governs primarily muscle movement, and the involuntary, which is called the autonomic. So how does atropine combat the effects of a nerve gas attack? "Atropine, in large quantities, is the antidote to these nerve gases," says Rahul Khare, assistant director of the department of emergency medicine at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine. To combat the effects of what might be the world's worst chemical weapons attack in 25 years, the hospital staff turned to atropine-at least until they ran out of the drug. The symptoms point to exposure to sarin gas or another drug agent, a weapons expert told Bloomberg. Doctors in the Syrian capital treated thousands of patients who were experiencing neurotoxic symptoms, including pinpoint pupils, foaming mouths, convulsions, blurry vision, and difficulty breathing. Media Platforms Design Team In the hours following the reported chemical weapons attack in the suburbs of Damascus last Wednesday, ailing men, women, and children flocked to the city's hospitals.
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