Intoxications, plant-associate

Walk into any herb garden for a sensory experience—the plants it contains will have been selected for their aromatic foliage and flowers. Valued for their many uses, herbs are also attractive plants, and many insects will visit their flowers. Herbs have rich associations with human history. Here are plants that have, over many centuries, helped people sleep, soothed pain, repelled insects, calmed fussy babies, and flavored foods and intoxicating drinks. Herbs are still worth growing today for their useful qualities, as well as for their beauty. 

Gaillard and Pepin [15] have reviewed the application of LC-MS/MS to the multiresidue detection of alkaloids associated with those plants that have caused human intoxication. They developed two methods of CIS RP HPLC-ESI-MS analysis for the alkaloids, which were dependent of the pK values of the alkaloids. Thus, for those alkaloids with pK values between 6 and 9 the eluting mobile phase was adjusted to pH 8.2 with ammonium formate and ammonium hydroxide whereas in the case of alkaloids with pfC values less than 6.5, the eluting mobile phase buffer was adjusted to pH 3 with ammonium formate and formic acid. To develop the method, the authors spiked blood samples with up to 14 different authenticated... 

Size and complexity of the dietary supplement market are only a few of a number of difficulties that public health officials face when dealing with poisoning episodes. In North America alone, at least 700 plant species have been described as being poisonous in one way or another, and plant poisonings are often difficult to differentiate from environmental intoxications caused by pesticides and industrial chemicals and from adverse reactions to synthetic drugs (Der Marderosian and Liberti, 1988). Complicating the picture is the fact that symptoms of many intoxications mimic those of medical conditions not associated with a toxic exposure, and that establishing causality may therefore be difficult (Perrotta et al., 1996). 

Rotenone is an alkaloid botanical pesticide isolated from plants (Denis sp. or Lonchocarpus sp.). It blocks mitochondrial electron transport. It is associated with dermatitis and mucous membrane irritation in humans and is very potent in fish. In humans, intoxication is rare but when present is directed toward the respiratory system. Rotenone is used as a topical ectoparasiticide. As mentioned in the text, it has been implicated as possibly having a role in Parkinson s disease. The newest and by far safest class of insecticides available today are the insect growth inhibitors, such as methoprene (PreCor ), and chitin synthesis inhibitors, such as lufenuron (Program ). 

Fungi that produce trichothecenes are plant pathogens and invade various agricultural products and plants. Since Fusarium and other related fungi infect important foodstuff, they have been associated worldwide with intoxication of humans and animals. Thus, these fungi have potential as biological weapons. 

Nitriles are a class of chemicals widely used for a variety of applieations including as a solvent, in medicines and in other industrial application. Nitriles oecur naturally in both plants and animals and are also synthesized. Their ubiquitous nature and volume of use mean that the number of individual potentially exposed to nitriles is significant, therefore evaluating and redueing the risk associated with exposure to this class of compounds is warranted. All nitriles eontain the cyano functional group (CN). The toxicity of nitriles is similar to the toxicity of cyanide intoxication implying that that the cyanide moiety from the molecule is the ultimate toxicant. 

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