hypaconitine and jesaconitine

Two people out of three who accidentally ate boiled aconite leaves died in 2012. This was a typical case of aconite poisoning in Japan: Aconite (Aconitum spp.) was mistakenly collected instead of Anemone flaccida, an edible wild plant. The leaves of these plants are quite similar to each other. Chemical analyses of the aconite plant left at the scene suggested intake of a fatal amount of aconitine alkaloids by each person. The collector, who died, had missed the botanical differences between the two plants, even though he owned a wild plant guidebook. A. flaccida should be collected with its flowers in order to aid positive indentification and avoid aconite poisoning.

Topics: Aconitine; Aconitum; Adult; Aged; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; Fatal Outcome; Female; Heart Arrest; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Plant Leaves; Shock, Cardiogenic; Tachycardia, Ventricular; Tandem Mass Spectrometry

A simple method for the simultaneous determination of four aconitine analogues (AC; aconitine, HA; hypaconitine, MA; mesaconitine, JA; jesaconitine) in Aconitum plants (Aconitum subcuneatum NAKAI) and a food that caused food poisoning was developed, using liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS). Aconitine analogues were extracted with 1 mmol/L HCl and then cleaned up with an Oasis HLB cartridge. The LC separation was performed with an octadecylated silica column (Develosil ODS-HG-5, 2.0 mm i.d. x 50 mm) at a flow rate of 0.2 mL/min, using A solution (5 mmol/L ammonium acetate dissolved in 0.1% acetic acid) and B solution (acetonitrile-THF=1 : 3), 90%A (0 min)-->60%A (15 min)-->const. (2 min). Mass spectral acquisition was performed in the positive mode and the analogues were targeted using multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) with electrospray ionization (ESI). The recoveries of aconitine analogues were 93-99% from Aconitum plants. The detection limits of AC, HA, MA and JA were 0.4, 0.4, 0.3 and 0.5 ng/g, respectively. The aconitine analogues, except JA, were detected in food that caused food poisoning at the level of 2.6-29.7 microg/g. These results indicate that the developed method is suitable for the determination of aconitine analogues in Aconitum plants and foods that cause food poisoning.

Topics: Aconitine; Aconitum; Chromatography, Liquid; Food Analysis; Foodborne Diseases; Tandem Mass Spectrometry

The Aconitum species (Ranunculaceae) are widely distributed in northern Asia and North America. Their roots are popularly used in herbal medicines in China and Japan. Many cases of accidental, suicidal and homicidal intoxication with this plant have been reported; some of these were fatal because the toxicity of Aconitum is very high. It is thus important to detect and quantify Aconitum alkaloids in body fluids, with high sensitivity. We have developed a simple and sensitive method for measuring four kinds of Aconitum alkaloids (aconitine, hypaconitine, jesaconitine and mesaconitine) by LC/electrospray (ESI)-time-of-flight (TOF)-MS. For all of them, only molecular ions were observed at an orifice voltage of 75 V; at 135 V, base peaks corresponding to [M - 60 + H]+ ions were observed. These four compounds and methyllycaconitine (internal standard) in human plasma samples were purified by solid-phase extraction. The four extracted compounds were completely separated in mass chromatograms; the calibration curves showed good linearity in the range 10-300 ng/ml, and the detection limits were estimated to be 0.2-0.5 ng/ml. Using our method, we also determined the amounts of these compounds in tuber samples. The present method is applicable in clinical and forensic toxicology.

Topics: Aconitine; Aconitum; Blood Chemical Analysis; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; Humans; Plant Tubers; Sensitivity and Specificity; Spectrometry, Mass, Electrospray Ionization; Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization

Determination of four toxic Aconitum alkaloids, aconitine, mesaconitine, hypaconitine and jesaconitine, in blood and urine samples has been established using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) combined with ultraviolet absorbance detection, solid-phase extraction and mass spectrometry (MS). These alkaloids were hydrolyzed rapidly in alkaline solution (half lives (t1/2)five months) and were unstable in solutions of methanol and ethanol (t1/2

Topics: Aconitine; Alkaloids; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; Drug Stability; Humans; Plants, Medicinal; Spectrometry, Mass, Fast Atom Bombardment; Spectrophotometry, Ultraviolet

Described here is a fatal case of accidental aconitine poisoning following the ingestion of aconite, Torikabuto, mistaken for an edible grass, Momijigasa. A 61-year-old man developed symptoms of nausea, diarrhea, and discomfort of the body about 2 h after the ingestion and was taken to an emergency room. Resuscitation and antiarrhythmic drugs were ineffective, and ventricular tachycardia and fibrillation developed and lasted for 6 h. He was transferred to a coronary care unit and complete sinus rhythm was obtained on an electrocardiogram 30 h after his admission. The patient fell into a coma and died of brain edema diagnosed by CT on the 6th day. Consent for autopsy was denied by the family but was given for gas chromatography/selected ion monitoring (GC/SIM) to analyze the toxicity of aconitine alkaloids in the blood and the urine. Only a faint amount of jesaconitine was detected, while aconitine, mesaconitine and hypaconitine were not detectable in the blood 24 h after ingestion. On the other hand, aconitine and its related alkaloids such as mesaconitine, jesaconitine, and hypaconitine were clearly detected in the urine.

Topics: Aconitine; Chromatography, Gas; Fatal Outcome; Forensic Medicine; Humans; Ion-Selective Electrodes; Male; Middle Aged; Plants, Edible; Poaceae; Poisoning