Cyanide is Important in Biology

Posted by -

When people hear the word cyanide, they may think of scenes in spy shows where someone ends himself by biting into a cyanide capsule and is dead in five seconds. Actually, those delivery systems do not work that fast.

There are industrial uses for cyanide that include photography, electroplating, making plastics, and many more. It is inside you. Cyanide is an inorganic compound that has numerous sources, even fruit seeds (it takes quite a few to have a bad effect). Now it has been discovered to be biologically important.

Cyanide is famous as a poison, but has many industrial applications, including hydrogen cyanide, to make products. Now it has been found to be important in biological functions.
Hydrogen cyanide, Wikimedia Commons / Benjah-bmm27 (PD, background colors added)
It is interesting how something that is lethal in small amounts is beneficial in even smaller amounts. (Doing the research in the first place is extremely difficult because it has to be done on living subjects.) Cyanide poisoning kills by stopping cells from using oxygen, but as a biological function, it helps protect cells during medical events when they are deprived of oxygen.

There are several indications that the importance of cyanide in biology is by the design of the Creator. For one thing, it is produced naturally in many places. Also, the naturally-produced version is only allowed to roam free in the body for a short time before it is converted into something harmless; its services are no longer required.
Cyanide is a highly toxic chemical that is fatal in small amounts. The lethal dose in humans is 0.5-1.5 mg/kg body weight. It can be taken into the body by ingestion, inhalation, or skin absorption. Symptoms, which typically begin to appear within minutes, include headaches, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, seizures, coma, and death.

Cyanide inhibits cellular respiration by binding to the Cytochrome C Oxidase enzyme. The result is that cells are prevented from using oxygen, leading to tissue damage and death. It has been used as a poison in war, mass homicides, and suicides. And for centuries it was believed that cyanide had no useful functions in humans.

The full article (beginning with a discussion on arsenic) is located at "Biological Function Found in Cyanide." It's in flaxseed, which I put on cereal several days a week.