Fowler's solution is a solution containing 1% potassium arsenite (KAsO2 ) which was first described and published as a treatment for malaria and syphilis in the late 1700s and was once prescribed as a remedy or a tonic .[ 1] [ 2] Stafford , England, proposed the solution in 1786 as a substitute for a patent medicine , "tasteless ague drop". From 1865, Fowler's solution was a leukemia treatment.[ 2] [ 3]
From 1905, inorganic arsenicals like Fowler's solution saw diminished use as attention turned to organic arsenicals, starting with Atoxyl .[ 4]
As arsenical compounds are notably toxic and carcinogenic —with side effects such as cirrhosis of the liver , idiopathic portal hypertension , urinary bladder cancer , and skin cancers —Fowler's solution fell from use. (In 2001, however, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a drug of arsenic trioxide to treat acute promyelocytic leukaemia ,[ 5] [ 6]
References
^ Ho, Derek; Lowenstein, Eve J. (2016). "Fowler's Solution and the Evolution of the Use of Arsenic in Modern Medicine" . Skinmed . 14 (4): 287– 289. ISSN 1540-9740 . PMID 27784519 . ^ a b Jolliffe, D. M. (1993). "A history of the use of arsenicals in man" . Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine . 86 (5): 287– 289. doi :10.1177/014107689308600515 . PMC 1294007 PMID 8505753 . ^ Doyle, Derek (2009). "Notoriety to respectability: a short history of arsenic prior to its present day use in haematology" . British Journal of Haematology . 145 (3): 309– 317. doi :10.1111/j.1365-2141.2009.07623.x PMID 19298591 . S2CID 6676910 . ^ Gibaud, Stéphane; Jaouen, Gérard (2010). Arsenic - based drugs: from Fowler's solution to modern anticancer chemotherapy . Topics in Organometallic Chemistry. Vol. 32. pp. 1– 20. Bibcode :2010moc..book....1G . doi :10.1007/978-3-642-13185-1_1 . ISBN 978-3-642-13184-4 ^ Zhu, J.; Chen, Z.; Lallemand-Breitenbach, V.; de Thé, H. (2002). "How acute promyelocytic leukaemia revived arsenic". Nature Reviews Cancer 2 (9): 705– 714. doi :10.1038/nrc887 . PMID 12209159 . S2CID 2815389 . ^ Chen, S. J.; Zhou, G. B.; Zhang, X. W.; Mao, J. H.; de Thé, H.; Chen, Z. (2011). "From an old remedy to a magic bullet: Molecular mechanisms underlying the therapeutic effects of arsenic in fighting leukemia" . Blood . 117 (24): 6425– 6437. doi :10.1182/blood-2010-11-283598 . PMC 3123014 PMID 21422471 .
External links
