Barbiturates are the organic compounds having powerful soporific (sleep inducing) effect. They are the central nervous system depressant drugs which are capable enough to produce a wide spectrum of effects right from the mild sedation to anesthesia to coma. This is why they come in the category of the therapeutic sedatives, anticonvulsants, hypnotics and anxiolytics i.e. a form of tranquilizers used to relieve anxiety and reduce tension and irritability. An overdose of barbiturates can thus be fatal. These were first introduced early in 1900s and since then more than 2500 barbiturates have been synthesized and out of these around 50 have been marketed for human use. Barbiturates can dissolve in to the body fats and in the fat dissolved form they can cross the blood brain barrier very easily. This is how they get the access to the brain. The effect of the barbiturates can be observed as soon as in an hour, which may last for as long as 12 hours. The long acting barbiturates can stay in the blood stream for as long as a week to 3 weeks, where as short acting barbiturates can stay in the body only for 2-5 days. Various urine based barbiturate test kits have been developed as quantities of the barbiturates can be traced in the urine samples. These home based one-step drug test kits yield test positive for presence of barbiturates if the sample records a total trace count of more than 300ng/ml.
DNA & Genetics
DNA & Paternity
