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| AHFS/Drugs.com | Micromedex Detailed Consumer Information |
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| Routes of administration | By mouth,intramuscular,intravenous,rectal |
| Drug class | Barbiturate |
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| Metabolism | Hepatic |
| Eliminationhalf-life | 8–42 hours |
| Excretion | Renal |
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| CompTox Dashboard(EPA) | |
| ECHA InfoCard | 100.000.300 |
| Chemical and physical data | |
| Formula | C11H18N2O3 |
| Molar mass | 226.276 g·mol−1 |
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Amobarbital (formerly known asamylobarbitone orsodium amytal as the soluble sodium salt) is a drug that is abarbiturate derivative. It hassedative-hypnotic properties. It is a white crystalline powder with no odor and a slightly bitter taste. It was first synthesized inGermany in 1923. It is considered a short to intermediate acting barbiturate.
If amobarbital is taken for extended periods of time, physiological andpsychological dependence can develop. Amobarbital withdrawal mimicsdelirium tremens and may be life-threatening. Amobarbital was manufactured byEli Lilly and Company in the United States under the brand nameAmytal in bright blue bullet shaped capsules (known as Pulvules) or pink tablets (known as Diskets)[2] containing 50, 100, or 200 milligrams of the drug. The drug was also manufactured generically.
Amobarbital was widely misused, known as "Blue Heavens" on the street. Amytal, as well asTuinal, a combination drug containing equal quantities ofsecobarbital and amobarbital, were both manufactured by Eli Lilly until the late 1990s. However, as the popularity ofbenzodiazepines increased, prescriptions for these medications became increasingly rare beginning in the mid to late 1980s.
In anin vitro study in rat thalamic slices, amobarbital worked by activatingGABAA receptors, which decreased input resistance, depressedburst and tonic firing, especially inventrobasal and intralaminarneurons, while at the same time increasing burst duration and meanconductance at individualchloride channels; this increased both the amplitude and decay time ofinhibitorypostsynapticcurrents.[3]
Amobarbital has been used in a study to inhibit mitochondrial electron transport in the rat heart in an attempt to preserve mitochondrial function followingreperfusion.[4]
A 1988 study found that amobarbital increasesbenzodiazepine receptor bindingin vivo with less potency than secobarbital andpentobarbital (in descending order), but greater thanphenobarbital andbarbital (in descending order).[5] (Secobarbital > pentobarbital >amobarbital > phenobarbital > barbital)
It has anLD50 in mice of 212 mg/kg s.c.[citation needed]
Amobarbital undergoes bothhydroxylation to form 3'-hydroxyamobarbital,[6] andN-glucosidation[7] to form 1-(beta-D-glucopyranosyl)-amobarbital.[8]
When given slowly by an intravenous route, sodium amobarbital has a reputation for acting as a so-calledtruth serum. Under the influence, a person will divulge information that under normal circumstances they would block. This was most likely due to loss of inhibition. As such, the drug was first employed clinically byWilliam Bleckwenn at the University of Wisconsin to circumvent inhibitions in psychiatric patients.[9] The use of amobarbital as a truth serum has lost credibility due to the discovery that a subject can be coerced into having a "false memory" of the event.[10]
The drug may be used intravenously to interview patients withcatatonicmutism, sometimes combined withcaffeine to prevent sleep.[11]
It was used by theUnited States armed forces duringWorld War II in an attempt to treatshell shock and return soldiers to thefront-line duties.[12] This use has since been discontinued as the powerful sedation, cognitive impairment, and dis-coordination induced by the drug greatly reduced soldiers' usefulness in the field.
The following drugs should be avoided when taking amobarbital:
Amobarbital has been known to decrease the effects of hormonal birth control.[13]
Some side effects of overdose include confusion (severe); decrease in or loss of reflexes; drowsiness (severe); fever; irritability (continuing); low body temperature; poor judgment; shortness of breath or slow or troubled breathing; slow heartbeat; slurred speech; staggering; trouble in sleeping; unusual movements of the eyes; weakness (severe). Severe overdose may result in death without intervention.
Amobarbital (5-ethyl-5-isoamylbarbituric acid), like all barbiturates, is synthesized by reactingmalonic acid derivatives withurea derivatives. In particular, in order to make amobarbital, α-ethyl-α-isoamylmalonic ester is reacted with urea (in the presence ofsodium ethoxide).[14][15]
The drug has been used to gain confessions from murderers such asAndres English-Howard, who strangled his girlfriend to death but claimed innocence. He was surreptitiously administered the drug by his lawyer, and under the influence of it he revealed why he strangled her and under what circumstances.[16]
On the night of August 28, 1951, the housekeeper of actorRobert Walker found him to be in an emotional state. She called Walker's psychiatrist who arrived and administered amobarbital for sedation. Walker was allegedly drinking prior to his emotional outburst, and it is believed the combination of amobarbital and alcohol resulted in a severe reaction. As a result, he passed out and stopped breathing, and all efforts to resuscitate him failed. Walker died at 32 years old.
The British actor and comedianTony Hancock killed himself in Australia in 1968 using the drug in combination with alcohol.
Eli Lilly manufactured amobarbital under the brand name Amytal until it was discontinued in the 1980s and replaced largely by the benzodiazepine family of drugs. Amytal was also widely abused. Street names for amobarbital include "blues", "blue angels", "blue birds", "blue devils", and "blue heavens" due to their blue capsule.[17]
InLen Deighton's 1967 novelAn Expensive Place to Die, a combination of amytal andLSD is used to make the unnamed protagonist respond to questioning about his activities.
InThomas Pynchon's 1973 novelGravity's Rainbow, sodium amytal is used by a military intelligence unit as some kind of truth serum to extract Tyrone Slothrop's (the novel's protagonist) ideas on racism of white Americans against Afro-Americans during the 1930s in his home state of Massachusetts (Chapter 1).
In the 1975Columbo episode "A Deadly State of Mind" the victim Nadia Donner has Amobarbital found in her blood according to the autopsy report.[18][19][20]
InThomas Harris's 1981 novelRed Dragon, it is mentioned that serial killerHannibal Lecter is able to resist the "truth serum" effects of sodium amytal.
In the 1994 comedic action thrillerTrue Lies, the protagonist Harry Tasker (portrayed byArnold Schwarzenegger) is given sodium amytal as a truth serum, when questioned by terrorists.
In 2001, theLaw & Order: Special Victims Unit episode "Repression" (Season 3, Episode 1), a therapist (Shirley Knight) treats her patient with "sodium amytal". The character Dr.George Huang (BD Wong) claims that the drug leaves a patient so susceptible tosuggestion, that the therapist is able to implant false memories in the patient.
In 2003, the animated seriesSealab 2021 season 3, episode 7, "Tourist Season", Dr. Quentin Q. Quinn, voiced by Brett Butler, uses "sodium amytal" to induce amnesia in a group of tourists, in order to prevent them from taking action against Sealab as a result of a hare-brained scheme by Capt. Murphy. He gives the dose in a free alcoholic beverage as a parting gift before the tourists leave, and in quantities he describes that could "make an elephant forget".
In the 2005 movie,Hellraiser: Hellworld, the main antagonist uses "sodium amytal" to secretly anesthetize the people he believes were responsible for his son's death, and induce extreme hallucinations in them.
In 2016, television dramaA Fist Within Four Walls episode 14, Man Zeun (portrayed by Princeton Lock) uses sodium amytal in an attempt to force gambling addict Lee Fat into paying debts.
In 2022, in "Diophantine Pseudonym", Episode 06 ofDan Brown'sThe Lost Symbol, sodium amytal is used by the CIA as a truth serum.
In the 2024 television seriesSAS Rogue Heroes Series 2 Episode 04, sodium amytal is offered to a soldier suffering from PTSD-related insomnia.
Ben Kimmelman, Captain, 28th Infantry: The assumptions were that this would have some kind of cathartic effect, the sodium amytal, which the men calledblue 88's. You know, the most effective artillery piece of the Germans was the 88 and this wasblue 88s, because the sodium amytal was a blue tablet.
