Aucubin: potential antidote for alpha-amanitin poisoning.

ABSTRACT

Aucubin, an iridoid glucoside isolated from Aucuba japonica (Cornaceae), exhibited significant protective activity against alpha-amanitin intoxication in mice. When a single dose of aucubin was administered intraperitoneally, a 50% survival rate was obtained even when the treatment was withheld for 12 hr after alpha-amanitin administration. A possible mechanism of protective activity is partly due to a competitive effect of aucubin on alpha-amanitin inhibition of liver RNA biosynthesis.