Trypaflavin

TRIPAFLAVIN, acriflavine, flavacridine, hydrochloric salt of 3,6-diamino-10-methylacridine chloride, C₁₄H₁₄N₃Cl.HCl. Molecular weight 296.2. Trypaflavin is a red-brown powder, readily soluble in water with a dark red color, and with a yellow color at high dilution. Dilute solutions exhibit a blue fluorescence that disappears upon the addition of a small amount of hydrochloric acid and reappears upon dilution with water. The taste of the aqueous solution is bitter. Solubility in water is 1 : 5; it dissolves significantly less in alcohol with a yellow-green fluorescence; in concentrated H₂SO₄ it shows a faint yellow color and strong yellow-green fluorescence. Trypaflavin solutions can be boiled and heated in an autoclave up to 120°. Concentrated solutions keep for a long time without changing, while sterile solutions in sealed dark ampoules keep indefinitely. Trypaflavin was first prepared by Ehrlich's associate Benda and was intended for combating trypanosomes. Its trypanocidal properties turned out to be insignificant. The therapeutic use of trypaflavin as a very valuable antiseptic underwent great development in England during the imperialist war. At present, trypaflavin is used for sepsis, gonorrhea, cholecystitis, and meningitis. The main area of successful application is pyelitis, pyelocystitis, urosepsis, and meningococcal sepsis. In veterinary practice, it is used for piroplasmosis in cattle and a number of canine diseases. Trypaflavin is not destroyed in the organism, accumulating in the liver, intestines, kidneys, and muscles. Excretion occurs mainly through the urine, and extremely slowly. According to Browning and Cohen, only ¹/₃ of the administered amount is excreted during the first two days. According to Haupt, after several infusions of trypaflavin, it is found in the urine for 17 days. Dosage: externally, solutions from 1 : 4,000 to 1 : 1,000. Intravenously, from 2–5 cm³ of a 0.5% solution up to 2–5 cm³ of a 2% solution. Side effects: feeling of warmth, facial flushing, nausea, occasionally diarrhea, numbness of the arm into which the infusion is made (with concentrated solutions). Sometimes even thrombosis of the vein is observed. It is necessary to note the photosensitizing action of trypaflavin and the possibility of "sunstroke" occurring. In individual cases, a picture of fatal poisoning with kidney damage (of the corrosive sublimate kidney type) and jaundice was observed. The Soviet preparation flavacridine, according to Dmitriev, Zdobnov, and Porudominsky, is in no way inferior to foreign trypaflavin. During its infusions, the authors did not even note the side effects described above. Literature: Dmitriev, Zdobnov, and Porudominsky, Flavacridine in Gonorrheal Arthritis, Kazan Medical Journal, 1933, no. 4; Burkhard H. und Dorn R., Bakteriologische und klinische Untersuchungen über das Trypaflavin, Beitr. z. klin. Chir., vol. CXIX, 1920; Hiller A., Zur Wirkungsweise und Anwendung des Trypaflavins, Deutsche Ztschr. f. Chir., vol. CLIX, 1920. B. Votchal.