تسجيل الدخول

تسجيل

Antimony

المؤلف:  Sue Jickells , Adam Negrusz (Editors)

المصدر:  Clarkes Analytical Forensic Toxicology

الجزء والصفحة:  103

2026-09-22

36

Metals

Antimony

Various salts of antimony (e.g. tartar emetic, antimony potassium tartrate) have a long history of use as medicines (McCallum 1999) and continue to be used to treat tropical parasitic diseases such as schistosomiasis (bilharziasis) and leishmaniasis. Antimony compounds are also used industrially in the manufacture of lead batteries, semiconductors, paints, ceramics and pewterware. Other modern industrial compounds include antimony oxychloride (Sb₆ O₆ Cl₄), widely used as a fire retardant on fabrics and mattresses. The fatal dose of antimony in the form of tartar emetic is about 1 g in an adult, but there is much interindividual variability. The signs and symptoms of acute antimony poisoning include metallic taste, dysphagia, epigastric pain, violent vomiting, diarrhoea, abdominal pain and circulatory collapse. These symptoms are almost indistinguishable from those of acute arsenic poisoning, but larger doses are required. Similarly, the effects of exposure to stibine (SbH₃) are similar to those of arsine (AsH₃). Chronic effects of occupational antimony expo sure include ‘antimony spots’ on the skin and pneumoconiosis. Reference values for antimony in body fluids and tissues are 1lg/L. However, there is limited information on the concentrations of antimony in blood, urine and tissues in cases of antimony poisoning or in body fluids of patients who receive antimony containing drugs. Values of up to 150 lg/L have been reported in urine of occupationally exposed workers (Smith et al. 1995).