The mechanism of cyanide intoxication and its antagonism.

The mechanism of cyanide intoxication has been attributed to the inhibition of cytochrome oxidase, thereby decreasing the tissue utilization of oxygen. One mechanism of cyanide antagonism is by sequestering cyanide with methaemoglobin to form cyanmethaemoglobin and another mechanism is detoxifying with a sulphur donor to thiocyanate. Questions have been raised with regard to these classical mechanisms.