Apomorphine, sold under the brand name Apokyn among others, is a type of aporphine having activity as a non-selective dopamine agonist which activates both D2-like and, to a much lesser extent, D1-like receptors. It also acts as an antagonist of 5-HT2 and α-adrenergic receptors with high affinity. The compound is historically a morphine decomposition product made by boiling morphine with concentrated acid, hence the -morphine suffix. Contrary to its name, apomorphine does not actually contain morphine or its skeleton, nor does it bind to opioid receptors. The apo- prefix relates to it being a morphine derivative ("[comes] from morphine"). Historically, apomorphine has been tried for a variety of uses, including as a way to relieve anxiety and craving in alcoholics, an emetic (to induce vomiting), for treating stereotypies (repeated behaviour) in farmyard animals, and more recently in treating erectile dysfunction. Currently, apomorphine is used in the treatment of Parkinsons disease. It is a potent emetic and should not be administered without an antiemetic such as domperidone. The emetic properties of apomorphine are exploited in veterinary medicine to induce therapeutic emesis in canines that have recently ingested toxic or foreign substances. Apomorphine was also used as a private treatment of heroin addiction, a purpose for which it was championed by the author William S. Burroughs. Burroughs and others claimed that it was a "metabolic regulator" with a restorative dimension to a damaged or dysfunctional dopaminergic system.
Psorosperm (from the Greek ψωρα itch and σπερμα seed) is a former name of a number of parasitic protozoa that produce cystlike or sporelike structures in the tissue of hosts. The term is now essentially obsolete. Some that affect vertebrate hosts are now called coccidia. Others, such as the cause of pébrine in silkworms, are now recognized as microsporidians, and some are myxosporidians. The genus Psorospermium (which includes the species Psorospermium haeckeli) itself is a parasite of crayfishes, and belongs to an enigmatic group of unicellular organisms that some biologists think may be related to the common ancestors of animals and fungi.J. Müller introduced the term in German (as Psorospermien) in 1841.Psorosperm was at one point believed to be the cause of Dariers disease. "Psorospermiasis" is classified under 136.4 in ICD-9. == References ==