| Toxizitätsübersicht | IDENTIFICATION AND USE: Camphor is a solid, translucent, white crystal with penetrating aromatic odor used as a rubefacient/counter-irritant medication. It is also used in liniments as a counter-irritant for fibromyalgia, neuralgia, and similar conditions. In dermatology, when it is applied as lotion (0.1 to 3%), it is an anti-pruritic and surface anesthetic (when applied gently, it creates a feeling of coolness). Camphor is no longer used as a pesticide in the US. Other uses of camphor include insect repellant use (particularly to control clothes moths)cosmetic ingredient. HUMAN EXPOSURE AND TOXICITY: The main target organs of camphor exposure are the CNS and kidneys. Convulsions, depression, apnea, asystole, gastric irritation, colic, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, anxiety, excitement, delirium, and severe post-convulsive coma may occur after intake of camphor. The symptoms may appear 5 to 90 min after ingestion depending on the product ingested (solid or liquid). Poisoning by camphor is associated with an initial excitatory phase, with vomiting, diarrhea and excitement, followed by CNS depression and death. Toxic effects appear after the ingestion of approximately 2 g (lethal dose adults: 4 g, children: 0.5-1 g, infants: 70 mg/kg of pure camphor). There have been reports of instant collapse in infants after camphor has been applied to their nostrils. Camphor is irritating to the eyes, skin and mucous membranes. When camphor is applied on the skin, it is analgesic. Taken internally, it is an irritant and carminative /SRP: an agent used to reduce gas in the GI tract/. It has been used as a mild expectorant. Camphor is a CNS stimulant whose effects range from mild excitation to grand-mal convulsions or status epilepticus. These effects result from excitation of the cerebrum and lower structures of the CNS. Gastric irritation, together with cortical and medullary stimulation, frequently causes vomiting and diarrhea. It is not clear whether camphor toxicity is due to the parent compound, a metabolite (secondary alcohols, including borneol and isomers of hydroxy-camphor), or both. Camphor is used exclusively because of its local effects. When rubbed on the skin, it acts as a rubefacient and causes localized vasodilatation (mediated by way of an axon reflex), which gives feelings of comfort and warmth. As an anti-pruritic gent, when applied gently on the skin, it may create a feeling of coolness, and a mild, local anesthetic effect, which may be followed by numbness. When ingested in small amounts, it creates feelings of warmth and comfort in the stomach, but given in large doses it acts as an irritant. Camphor is not a human carcinogen, and the topical use of camphorated oil in pregnancy was not associated with teratogenic effects. However, camphor ingestion may lead to abortion and/or a death of the fetus because camphor crosses the placenta and fetuses lack the enzymes needed to hydroxylate and conjugate with glucuronic acid. ANIMAL STUDIES: Carcinogenicity tests in animals have been negative. Neuronal necrosis produced experimentally in mice by administration of multiple doses. In developmental studies, D-camphor elicited no evidence of teratogenicity when administered orally during the fetal period of organogenesis to pregnant rats at doses up to 1000 mg/kg bw/day, and to pregnant rabbits at doses up to 681 mg/kg bw/day. Camphor is not mutagenic with the Ames test but sister chromatid exchange has been reported in mice given 80 mg/kg doses of camphor ip, demonstrating possible genotoxicity. |
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