Vertebrate pesticide
4-Aminopyridine is also used under the trade name Avitrol as 0.5% or 1% in bird control bait. It causes convulsions and, infrequently, death, depending on dosage. The manufacturer says the proper dose should cause epileptic-like convulsions which cause the poisoned birds to emit distress calls resulting in the flock leaving the site; if the dose was sub-lethal, the birds will recover after 4 or more hours without long-term ill effect. The amount of bait should be limited so that relatively few birds are poisoned, causing the remainder of the flock to be frightened away with a minimum of mortality. A lethal dose will usually cause death within an hour. The use of 4-aminopyridine in bird control has been criticized by the Humane Society of the United States. Medical use
Fampridine has been used clinically in Lambert–Eaton myasthenic syndrome and multiple sclerosis. It acts by blocking voltage-gated potassium channels, prolonging action potentials and thereby increasing neurotransmitter release at the neuromuscular junction. The drug has been shown to reverse saxitoxin and tetrodotoxin toxicity in tissue and animal experiments. In calcium entry blocker overdose in humans, 4-aminopyridine can increase the cytosolic Ca2+
concentration very efficiently independent of the calcium channels. Multiple sclerosis
Fampridine has been shown to improve visual function and motor skills and relieve fatigue in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). However, the effect of the drug is strongly established for walking capacity only.
Potassium iodate (KIO3) is used to iodize some salts so that the iodine is not lost by oxidation. Dextrose or sodium thiosulfate are often added to iodized table salt to stabilize potassium iodide thus reducing loss of the volatile chemical. Thyroid protection
Thyroid iodine uptake blockade with potassium iodide is used in nuclear medicine scintigraphy and therapy with some radioiodinated compounds that are not targeted to the thyroid, such as iobenguane (MIBG), which is used to image or treat neural tissue tumors, or iodinated fibrinogen, which is used in fibrinogen scans to investigate clotting. These compounds contain iodine, but not in the iodide form. However, since they may be ultimately metabolized or break down to radioactive iodide, it is common to administer non-radioactive potassium iodide to ensure that iodide from these radiopharmaceuticals is not sequestered by the normal affinity of the thyroid for iodide. U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved dosing of potassium iodide for this purpose with iobenguane, is as follows (per 24 hours): infants less than 1 month old, 16 mg; children 1 month to 3 years, 32 mg; children 3 years to 18 years, 65 mg; adults 130 mg. However, some sources recommend alternative dosing regimens.Not all sources are in agreement on the necessary duration of thyroid blockade, although agreement appears to have been reached about the necessity of blockade for both scintigraphic and therapeutic applications of iobenguane.