Development of molecular markers to distinguish between morphologically similar edible plants and poisonous plants using a real-time PCR assay.

BACKGROUND: As a result of similar appearances between edible and poisonous plants, 42 patients have ingested poisonous plants from 2013 to 2017 in Korea. We have developed species-specific primer sets of three of edible and poisonous plants sets (Ligularia fischeri & Caltha palustris, Artemisia annua & Ambrosia artemisiifolia and Hemerocallis fulva & Veratrum maackii) for distinguishing both plants using a real-time polymerase chain reaction assay. RESULTS: The efficiencies of the developed primer sets ranged from 87.8% to 102.0%. The developed primer sets have significant correlation coefficient values between the Ct values and the log DNA concentration for their target species (r2 > 0.99). The cut-off lines as the crossing point values of the limit of quantitation of the target species were determined, and all non-target species were amplified later than the cut-off cycles. Then, the effectiveness of the developed primer sets was evaluated using commercial food products and digested samples with simulated gastric juice. CONCLUSION: All of the developed species-specific primer sets were able to detect target DNA successfully in commercial food products and the digested samples. Therefore, the developed species-specific primer sets in the present study would be useful tools for distinguishing between poisonous plants and edible plants. © 2020 Society of Chemical Industry.

Intoxicação espontânea e experimental por Brachiaria radicans (tanner-grass) em bovinos / Natural and experimental poisoning by Brachiaria radicans (tanner grass) in cattle

Brachiaria radicans (tanner-grass,) cresce bem em solos úmidos. Em Santa Catarina é encontrada principalmente nas regiões dos vales dos rios Tubarão e Itajaí. Quando ingerida em grandes quantidades pelos bovinos induz anemia hemolítica, hemoglobinúria, diarreia e pode evoluir para a morte. O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar os dados epidemiológicos e clínico-patológicos causados por B. radicans em bovinos. A planta foi administrada a 12 bovinos em doses de 50-100 por cento da dieta. Os animais que receberam uma dieta que consistia de 100 por cento da planta, originária de solos turfosos, mostraram hemoglobinúria, diarreia, mucosas vermelho-escuras e recuperação após suspensão da ingestão da planta. Exames de sangue e urina revelaram anemia, hemoglobinúria e proteinúria. A histopatologia de material coletado de bovinos que morreram pela doença espontânea, revelou necrose hepática coagulativa e paracentral e nefrose hemoglobinúrica. B. radicans mostrou ser tóxica para bovinos somente quando cresce em solos férteis e se consistir de 100 por cento da dieta.

Brachiaria radicans is a grass that grows well on humid soils. In Santa Catarina, it is found mainly in the valleys of the Tubarão and Itajaí rivers. When eaten by cattle in large amounts induces hemolytic anemia, hemoglobinuria, diarrhea and even death. The objective of this study was to evaluate epidemiologic, clinical and pathological data of the intoxication caused by B. radicans in cattle. The plant was administered to 12 cattle in doses of 50-100 percent of the diet. The animals that received 100 percent of B. radicans, grown on peaty soils, showed hemoglobinuria, diarrhea and dark red mucous membranes; they recovered when ingestion of the grass was discontinued. Blood and urine tests revealed anemia, hemoglobinuria and proteinuria. Histopathology of organs collected from cattle that died from spontaneous poisoning revealed hepatic centrolobular and paracentralr coagulative necrosis and hemoglobinuric nephrosis. B. radicans proved toxic for cattle only when it grows on fertile soils and is ingested as 100 percent of the diet.

Role of melatonin against oxidative tissue damage induced by Cleistanthus collinus in rat brain.

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES: The leaves of Cleistanthus collinus, an extremely poisonous plant are consumed for suicidal purposes in various parts of India. The mortality rate is high and there is no antidote. In this study, we attempted to delineate oxidative stress as a possible mechanism of action of C. collinus toxicity in rats and the role of melatonin against injury to brain and heart caused by C. collinus. METHODS: Adult Wistar rats (130 -200 g, n = 6 per group) of either sex were used. C. collinus at 8 mg/kg body weight (LD(50)) was administered orally followed by melatonin 15 mg/kg body weight ip or cysteine 500 mg/kg body weight ip (standard) after 2 h. Malondialdehyde (MDA), reduced glutathione (GSH), glutathione peroxidase and catalase levels in brain, heart and blood were estimated and histopathological examinations (brain and heart) were done. For the survival study, rats were treated with increasing doses of melatonin (5, 10 and 15 mg/kg body weight ip) following a lethal dose of C. collinus (10.5 g/kg body weight orally). RESULTS: The results showed a significant (P<0.05) increase in blood and brain MDA levels and decrease in tissue GSH in the LD(50) group. This was accompanied by marked gliosis, spongiform necrosis and lymphocytic inflammatory infiltrates in brain and marked congestion, inflammation and muscle necrosis in heart. Melatonin significantly (P<0.05) reduced lipid peroxidation and reversed the histopathological changes induced by C. collinus in the brain but not in the heart. INTERPRETATION & CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that oxidative mechanisms play an important role in C. collinus induced tissue damage and melatonin, by balancing oxidant-antioxidant status ameliorates oxidative organ injury in brain due to C. collinus toxicity.

[Judging method of individual age and age structure of Stellera chamaejasme population in degraded steppe].

Based on the minute observation of branches morphology of root-crown of Stellera chamaejasme in Cleistogenes squarosa community and its growth characteristics, this paper studied the age structure of S. chamaejasme population, and an individual age judging method "the times of quasi-dichotomous branching plus two" was put forward for the first time. Remnant stubbles, branch trace, and annular trace on the root crown were regarded as important morphological features, and used to confirm the times of quasi-dichotomous branching. The results showed that the oldest individuals at three grazing succession stages (i.e., heavy grazing, over grazing and extreme grazing) were 15, 16 and 19 years old, respectively. Among all age classes, the numbers of eight years old individuals were the largest, and the age ratio was 18.71%, 24.20% and 19.06%, respectively, at the different succession stages. There were no one- and two-year old individuals at heavy grazing stage, and no one-year old individuals at the other two grazing stages. The age structures of the populations were "early declining types", and the survival curves were similar to protuberant type or Deevey I type. The numbers of old age individuals (thirteen years old and more) at the three succession stages accounted for 4.83%, 2.84% and 14.02%, respectively. The age structure of the population tended to aging with the increase of grazing intensity.

Krimpsiekte in a sheep following a single dose of Tylecodon ventricosus (Burm. f.) Toelken and the isolation of tyledoside D from this plant species.

Tylecodon ventricosus induced severe respiratory distress in two penned sheep without any electrocardiographic abnormalities being recorded. Based on the results it appears as if T. ventricosus predominantly induces the neuromuscular syndrome referred to as krimpsiekte. A single, relatively large intraruminal dose of 10.0 g/kg induced krimpsiekte in one sheep. Treatment with 5.0 g/kg activated charcoal on two consecutive days did not prevent the development of krimpsiekte. A bufadienolide, tyledoside D, was isolated from semi-dried plant material.

Suspected cardiac glycoside intoxication in sheep and goats in Namibia due to Ornithogalum nanodes (Leighton).

The main clinical and necropsy features of field and experimental cases of suspected cardiac glycoside intoxication following ingestion and dosing of the plant Ornithogalum nanodes, are described. The distribution of intoxication in the area as well as a description of the plant are given. Plant samples tested for cardiac glycosides by fluorescence polarization immuno-assay (FPIA) gave a strong positive reaction. This is a new finding, as other toxic Ornithogalum species in southern Africa are devoid of cardiac glycoside activity and poisoning with them result only in a severe, often fatal diarrhoea, without obvious cardiac involvement. It is also the first record of toxicity of this particular plant.

[Herbal research of uigurian drug Mandragora officinarum].

Mandragora officinarum L. is one of the traditional drug recorded in Uigurian document, but Uigurian doctors mistake Panax ginseng C. A. Mey. for Mandragora officinarum L. By herbal study and research of systematic botany for Uigurian drug Mandragora officinarum L., this paper considers that is doesn't substitute Panax ginseng C. A. Mey. for Mandragora officinarum L.

Cardiac glycoside poisoning in sheep caused by Urginea physodes (Jacq.) Bak. and the isolated physodine A.

Urginea physodes (Jacq.) Bak., a species closely related to or possibly synonymous with U. pusilla, is described and its distribution given. Four bufadienolides were isolated from U. physodes and the approximated LD50 and cumulative effect of some of them determined in guinea pigs. The most toxic one proved to be mildly cumulative. Typical signs of acute cardiac glycoside poisoning, involving the locomotory, gastro-intestinal, respiratory and cardiac system, were seen in the field cases and/or were experimentally induced by the plant. Similar signs could also be induced by injecting the isolated bufadienolide, physodine A, to a sheep.

Experimental evidence that the active principle of the poisonous plant Thesium lineatum L.f. (Santalaceae) is a bufadienolide.

The toxicity of Thesium lineatum is confirmed in sheep. A toxic crystalline bufadienolide, with the suggested trivial name thesiuside, has been isolated from it. This is the first cardiac glycoside to be isolated from a member of the Santalaceae. The toxin appears to have no cumulative effect and the symptoms of intoxication and pathology in sheep are similar to that expected from acute cardiac glycoside intoxication.

A suspected lipofuscin storage disease of sheep associated with ingestion of the plant, Trachyandra divaricata (Jacq.) Kunth.

Paresis afflicted 85 out of a flock of 770 young Merino ewes kept on old wheat lands in the western Cape during a period of drought. Many of the paretic ewes died. The vegetation was sparse and was dominated by Trachyandra divaricata. At necropsy, yellowish-brown discoloration of the grey matter throughout the brain and spinal cord and mild brown discoloration of the liver, renal cortex and lymph nodes were consistently seen. Light microscopical examination revealed abundant, yellowish-brown pigment granules in the cytoplasm of most of the larger neurons. Similar pigment also occurred in some non-nervous tissues. Shrinkage and loss of a few randomly scattered axons were observed in the white matter of the spinal cord in 2 sheep. Histochemical and ultrastructural features of the pigment were consistent with those of lipofuscin. T. divaricata failed to reproduce the condition when dosed to a sheep, but the paresis and pigmentation shown to be caused by the closely related plant, T. laxa, are strikingly similar. Trachyandra poisoning appears to be the first documented example in farm animals of an acquired lipofuscin storage disease involving nervous and non-nervous tissues for which a specific plant has been causally implicated.

Pathology of a nervous disorder (pushing disease or "stootsiekte") in cattle caused by the plant Matricaria nigellifolia DC. (Asteraceae).

Brains from 10 bovine field cases of pushing disease, a nervous disorder caused by the plant, Matricaria nigellifolia, were examined by light microscopy. Moderate to marked encephalitis, characterized by predominantly perivascular microgliosis, perivascular lymphocytic infiltrates and reactive changes in astrocytes, was present in all the brains. The lesion was concentrated in the white matter throughout the forebrain and midbrain. Dried, milled M. nigellifolia was dosed to 6 steers. Clinical signs of pushing disease, which included docility, clumsiness and pushing against objects, appeared abruptly in 5 of the steers after a latent period that varied from 16-44 days. The lowest total dose of plant that proved toxic was 10 g/kg. The length of the latent period appeared to be related inversely to the total dose. Encephalitis, which was similar in nature and distribution to those in the field cases, was demonstrated in the 5 affected steers. The lesion was minimal in the brain of the steer that did not develop pushing disease. The cerebral lesion is sufficiently consistent and distinctive to be useful in establishing a diagnosis of pushing disease. The perivascular distribution of microgliosis suggests that the site of the toxic insult is the cerebral vasculature. Botanical information is presented.

Fatal ovine nephrosis caused by Anagallis arvensis L.

Cases of acute mortality in sheep, characterised by severe nephrosis and resultant uraemia, were investigated on two farms 150 km apart in the Winter Rainfall area of the Republic of South Africa. This condition was experimentally reproduced by dosing sheep with Anagallis arvensis L plants. The most consipicious lesion was a coagulative necrosis with intratubular haemorrhage in the renal cortex. The history, clinical signs and the pathology, and experimental reproduction of the disease are described.

Hemlock water dropwort poisoning--a review.

Hemlock water dropwort (Oenanthe crocata) is probably the most poisonous plant in the British Isles. The roots are the most toxic part of the plant and have been eaten in mistake for the roots of several other plant species with often fatal results. A recent nonfatal case of poisoning is reported and previous cases reviewed. Present evidence suggests that barbiturates, particularly short-acting agents are life saving and are the drugs of choice in the treatment of the convulsions.