For the evaluation on the efficacy of activated charcoal as an antidote in acute diquat poisoning, the adsorption characteristics of diquat in distilled water and in physiological saline solution were investigated.
The amount of diquat adsorbed onto activated charcoal in physiological saline solution was larger than that in distilled water. The enhancing effect of sodium chloride on diquat removal by activated charcoal was observed.
The adsorption rate of diquat onto activated charcoal was also enhanced by the addition of saline. The correlations between the adsorptivity for diquat and properties of activated charcoal were not significant.
These results suggest that the increase of adsorptivity of activated charcoal for diquat might be due to the increase in electrostatic interaction between the surface on which an electrical double layer was formed by saline and diquat.