Swainsonine distribution

Like simple sugars, swainsonine is water-soluble and therefore distributed to many parts of the body. It is rapidly excreted, primarily in the urine, but in lactating animals a portion of it is transferred to the milk (James and Hartley, 1977). This fast excretion rate suggests that occasional consumption of locoweeds for short periods is unlikely to have serious effects, but continuous consumption, even at low levels, results in poisoning. Short intensive grazing episodes have been used as a management tool for grazing pastures heavily infested with locoweed (Ralphs et ah, 1984). 

Molyneux, R.J., James, L.F., Panter, K.E. and Ralphs, M.H. (1991b). Analysis and distribution of swainsonine and related polyhydroxyindolizidine alkaloids by thin layer chromatography, Phytochem. Anal., 2, 125-129. 

Fellows, L. E., G. C. Kite, R. J. Nash, M. S. J. Simmonds, and A. M. Scofield, Castanospermine, swainsonine, and related polyhydroxyalkaloids Stracture, distribution, and biological activity, in Plant Nitrogen Metabolism (J. E. Poulton, J. T. Romeo, and E. E. Conn, eds.). Recent Advances in Phytochemistry Vol. 23, 395-427, Plenum Press, New York, 1989. 

Some methods for the isolation, detection, and characterization of swainso-nine (378) require mention. A novel analytical procedure based on small-scale hquid—hquid extraction of dried plant material, isolation by extraction with a cation-exchange resin, and quantitation by reversed-phase HPLC coupled to atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI) tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) was devised to ewiluate the distribution of swainsonine in populations of several North American locoweeds of the genus Oxytropis the limit of detection was about 0.001% in dry plant material, which is at the... 

Molyneux, R. J., and James, L. F. 1991a. Swainsonine, the Locoweed Toxin Analysis and Distribution. In Toxicology of Plant and Fungal Compounds-Handbook of Natural Toxins, Vol.6, Keeler, R. R, and Tu, A. T., eds. New York, Marcel Dekker. pp. 191-214. 

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