Potassium chloride (KCl, or potassium salt) is a metal halide salt composed of potassium and chlorine. It is odorless and has a white or colorless vitreous crystal appearance. The solid dissolves readily in water, and its solutions have a salt-like taste. Potassium chloride can be obtained from ancient dried lake deposits. KCl is used as a fertilizer, in medicine, in scientific applications, domestic water softeners (as a substitute for sodium chloride salt), and in food processing, where it may be known as E number additive E508. It occurs naturally as the mineral sylvite, and in combination with sodium chloride as sylvinite. Uses
Fertilizer
The majority of the potassium chloride produced is used for making fertilizer, called potash, since the growth of many plants is limited by potassium availability. Potassium chloride sold as fertilizer is known as muriate of potash (MOP). The vast majority of potash fertilizer worldwide is sold as MOP. Medical use
Potassium is vital in the human body, and potassium chloride by mouth is the common means to treat low blood potassium, although it can also be given intravenously. It is on the World Health Organizations List of Essential Medicines. Overdose causes hyperkalemia which can disrupt cell signaling to the extent that the heart will stop, reversibly in the case of some open heart surgeries. Culinary use
It can be used as a salt substitute for food, but due to its weak, bitter, unsalty flavor, it is often mixed with ordinary table salt (sodium chloride) to improve the taste to form low sodium salt.
Brinzolamide/brimonidine, sold under the brand name Simbrinza, is a fixed-dose combination medication used to reduce intra-ocular pressure (pressure inside the eye) in adults with ocular hypertension (high intra-ocular pressure) or in those with an eye condition known as open-angle glaucoma. It contains brinzolamide and brimonidine tartrate. It is used as an eye drop.The most common side effects include ocular hyperaemia (red eye), allergic reactions in the eye, and dysgeusia (taste disturbances).Open-angle glaucoma (a condition where the aqueous humour, the watery fluid inside the eyeball, cannot drain away properly) and other causes of high pressure in the eye increase the risk of damage to the retina and the optic nerve (the nerve that sends signals from the eye to the brain). This can result in serious vision loss and even blindness.The active substances, brinzolamide and brimonidine tartrate, help to reduce intra-ocular pressure by reducing the production of aqueous humour. Brinzolamide works by blocking an enzyme called carbonic anhydrase, which produces bicarbonate needed for the production of the aqueous humour, while brimonidine tartrate blocks another enzyme known as adenylate cyclase, which is also involved in the production of the aqueous humour. Brimonidine also increases the drainage of aqueous humour from the front of the eye.Brinzolamide/brimonidine was approved for medical use in the United States in April 2013, and in the European Union in July 2014. Medical uses
Brinzolamide/brimonidine is indicated to decrease of elevated intraocular pressure (IOP) in adults with open-angle glaucoma or ocular hypertension for whom monotherapy provides insufficient IOP reduction.