page_title: MPP+
section_title: As a pesticide
hierarchical_section_title: MPP+ / Uses / As a pesticide
context_page_description: MPP+ is a positively charged organic molecule with the chemical formula C₁₂H₁₂N⁺. It is a neurotoxin that acts by interfering with oxidative phosphorylation in mitochondria by inhibiting complex I, leading to the depletion of ATP and eventual cell death.
  MPP+ arises in the body as the toxic metabolite of the closely related compound MPTP. MPTP is converted in the brain into MPP+ by the enzyme MAO-B, ultimately causing parkinsonism in primates by killing certain dopamine-producing neurons in the substantia nigra. The ability for MPP+ to induce Parkinson's disease has made it an important compound in Parkinson's research since this property was discovered in 1983.
  The chloride salt of MPP+ found use in the 1970s as an herbicide under the trade name cyperquat. Though no longer in use as an herbicide, cyperquat's closely related structural analog paraquat still finds widespread usage, raising some safety concerns.
context_section_description: MPP+, sold as the chloride salt under the brand name cyperquat, was used briefly in the 1970s as an herbicide to protect crops against nutsedge, a member of the cyperus genus of plants. MPP+ as a salt has much lower acute toxicity than its precursor MPTP due to the inability of the former to pass through the blood-brain barrier and ultimately access the only cells that will permit its uptake, the dopaminergic neurons. While cyperquat is no longer used as an herbicide, a closely related compound named paraquat is. Given the structural similarities, some have raised concerns about paraquat's active use as an herbicide for those handling it. However, studies have shown paraquat to be far less neurotoxic than MPP+, since paraquat does not bind to complex I in the mitochondrial electron transport chain, and thus its toxic effects can not be realized.
caption: Paraquat, an herbicide structurally similar to cyperquat, is still widely used in agriculture.[3] The molecule is depicted here as the chloride salt.