Cerbera odollam

1. Cerbera odollam
Nur Fadzlina Zabri
082013100006
Cerbera odollam

2. Introduction
 About
 Mechanism of action
 Lethal dose
 Uses
 Signs and symptom
 Post mortem change
 Medicolegal importance
 Treatment

3. Cerbera odollam
 Known as suicide tree, pong pong, Othalanga
 Characteristic :
 Grows in coastal salt swamp and marshy area
 Common along coastal state in Kerala

4.  Fruits - green, looks like mangoes
- with green fibrous shell enclosing an ovoid
kernel
- On exposure to air, white kernel turns violet,
then dark grey and later on black
 Yields a milky white latex

5. Toxicity
 Active principle : Cerberin
 Fatal dose : kernel of one fruit
The poison blocks the calcium ion
channels in heart muscle
Disruption of the heart beat.
Most often fatal.

6. Signs and symptom
 Burning sensation in mouth
 Dilated pupils
 Retching, nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain
 Drowsy and weak - may get into coma
 Hyperkalemia
 Arrhythmia
 Bradycardia (not even responding to atropine)
 Within 6 hours after the intake, death may occur

7. Uses
 Manufacturing bioinsecticides and deodorants
 Converting the seeds into biodiesel
 To stupefy fish
 Rat poisons
 Medicinal purposes – cold, scaabies, rheumatism,
heart failure
 Purgatives and emetics

8. Medicolegal importance;
•Common method in suicide and homicide
(cerberin is diffficult to be detected in
autopsies)
• As part of ritual- trial of ordeal

9. Postmortem appearance
 Congested eyes
 Congested internal organ
 Congested and edematous lung
 Subepicardial, subendocardial and subpleural
petechial hemorrhage
 Stomach mucosa being congested with
haemorrhages and gastritis

10.  Using high-performance liquid chromatography
coupled with mass spectrometry
 To examine autopsy tissues for traces of the plant
 However, currently, it is being almost completely
ignored by western physicians, chemists, analysts
and even coroners and forensic toxicologists.

11. Treatment
 Stomach wash
 Correction of bradyarrhythmia - Atropine 0.5mg iv
 Correct hyperkalemia
 Cardiac pacing
 Presence of hypotension, alteration of consciousness,
bradyarrhythmias not responding to treatment,
Hyperkalemia and significant ECG
changes
SEVERE POISONING
Mortality rate is 30-40%

12. References
 Textbook of Forensic Medicine snd Toxicology , 15th
Edition by V V Pillay
 The Essentials of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology,
27th Edition 2008 by Dr KS Narayan Reddy
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerbera_odollam
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerberin