INDOMETHACIN: THE RAT POISON, HUMAN NSAID

I for a person seems to ramble a lot naturally, I explain history when allowed to. Hence, this blog has to be about my ramblings. To my readers, I really have been trying not to make the write ups too long but for now it seem to elude positivism.

Once when I was young I took a popular rat poison known as indocide (a yellow capsule) for pain during an ailment treatment, the spelling is according to pronunciation i knew then. It was an opportunity for me then because i have asked my dad why i had to take it and he had explained that humans could take it and not die. In my house, those days we also used it for rats disturbing the household's peace by loosening the capsule pack and pouring the powdered  content on foods like garri or dried fish and placing in corners for the rats to eat and die.

About a decade from the occurrence of the above narrated story, i have learnt about the mechanism of action of  the drug INDOMETHACIN. It is a Non-steroidal Anti-Inflammatory drug (NSAID), with anti-inflammatory, anti-pyre tic, analgesic/ anti-pain and anti-coagulant effects. The anti- coagulant effect is what makes it usable as a rat poison.

Vitamin K is a very important component in blood clotting, its necessary for synthesis of clotting factors VII,IX,X and prothrombin. Indomethacin does kills the rat is by suppressing the growth of Vitamin K in the intestinal tract, where much of it is produced. With the Vitamin K production halted, it is only a matter of days until the rodent's Vitamin K stores are completely depleted. 4-hydroxycoumarin and indandione are also anticoagulants that have effect on rats. These chemicals cause trauma to the blood vessel walls, increasing the risk for damage and internal bleeding. When the rodents begin to bleed internally, there is no Vitamin K available to aid the  clotting process. The rodents die, usually within one to two days, from internal hemorrhaging. 

This is the preferred type of rat bait, as the antidote to ingestion by animals or humans is Vitamin K and i guess this explains why some rats do not die even after eating the poisoned food if they could find themselves foods rich in vitamin K to eat .

And then we have the annoying odour arising from their decay disturbing our peace again till they are either found and disposed off or dried completely if we can't find them. Then happy times again......

And now I would say knowledge is power. Lets search for it. Peace