Blighia

Fruits from Jamaican ackee tree - Blighia sapida, Sapindaceae sp., and other tropical plants... 

Hypoglycin A from the fruit of Blighia sapida, a tree that grows in Jamaica and Africa, causes hypoglycemia and vomiting in animals and humans. Fatalities, which have occurred, were attributed to a sudden drop in blood sugar. 

These African eatable fruits were introduced to the Carribean Islands and Florida by Captain Bligh. See Mitchell JC (1974) The posthumous misfortune of Captain Bhgh of the Bounty Hypoglyceamia from Blighia. Diabetes 23 919 Black DK, Landor SR (1963) Tetrahedron Lett 1065 Black DK, Landor SR (1968) J Chem Soc C 288... 

Amino acids hypoglycins (Blighia sapida Kwi., Sapindales, Ang., also introduced to the Caribbean BR). 

Hypoglycine A (7), a hypoglycemic compound, was first isolated from the akee plant Blighia sapida Kon. ". This amino acid, together with a-(methylenecyclopropyl)glycine... 

Akee Blighia sapida Eiecampane Inula helenium... 

Blighia sapida (akee) contains a large amount of a potent hypoglycemic amino acid, glycylglycylglycine, known as hypoglycin. 

Meda HA, Diallo B, Bucket JP, Lison D, Barennes H, Ouangre A, Sanou M, Cousens S, Tall F, Van de Perre P. Epidemic of fatal encephalopathy in preschool children in Burkina Faso and consumption of unripe ackee (Blighia sapida) fruit. Lancet 1999 353(9152) 536-40. 

A number of other inhibitors of fatty acid oxidation have been reported in the literature [81,86, 140-142] including 2-bromopalmitoyl-CoA, bromoacetyl-CoA and S-methanesulphonyl-CoA decanoylcamitine, all inhibitors of carnitine palmitoyltransferase, 4-pentenoic acid, an inhibitor of 3-ketoacyl-CoA thiolase and acetoacetyl-CoA thiolase, and hypoglycin, a compound isolated from the Jamaican ackee fruit (Blighia sapida) which potently inhibits several acyl-CoA dehydrogenases. The toxicity associated with these compounds or their expense have precluded further development as hypoglycaemic agents. 

NOe and rOe correlations used for sequencing of a saponin from Blighia welwitschii. 

Hypoglycines. H. A [3-((/ )-methylenecyclopropyl)-L-alanine], a non-proteinogenic amino acid with hypoglycemic and teratogenic activity from unripe akee plums (Blighia sapida, Sapindaceae). 

Toxicology Blighia sapida, originally indigenous to West Africa, was introduced in Jamaica 200 years ago. The ripe fruits are eaten there after consumption there have been occasional incidents of vomiting, spasms, and loss of consciousness. H. can also be a lethal poison. The LD50 value is ca. 40 mg/kg (human). 

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