The Black Death and Other Pandemics
Scott M. Jackson in Skin Disease and the History of Dermatology, 2023
Toxicity from consumption of substantial amounts of ergotamine can manifest as severe limb pain and peripheral vasoconstriction (gangrenous ergotism), or seizures, muscle spasms, delusion, confusion, and hallucinations (convulsive ergotism). The prevalence of ergotism among the poor is explained by the tendency of the poor to consume spurred rye. The dissimilarity in the manifestations of ergotism east and west of the Rhine remains somewhat of a mystery. Modern researchers suggest that it was variability in the concentration of ergot alkaloids in the grain due to various reasons: regional differences in the strains of C. purpurea, differences in the soil or habitat where the grain was grown and stored, and degradation of the ergot over time after prolonged storage.66 Less rye was grown in Italy in the Middle Ages; hence, St. Anthony's Fire was not mentioned in medieval Italian chronicles.67
Adrenoceptor Antagonists
Kenneth J. Broadley in Autonomic Pharmacology, 2017
Migraine headache is a major application of the ergot alkaloids. In ‘classic’ migraine, initial visual disturbances known as the aura precedes the headache by 10–30 min. The headache is throbbing, the pain often originating in the temple or forehead and lasting 2–3 hr but occasionally up to 12 hr. In ‘common’ migraine there is no aura, but both forms are associated with nausea and vomiting. The precise pathophysiology has still to be fully understood. The main hypothesis has been that large cerebral blood vessels are constricted by 5-HT possibly released from platelets and probably mediated via 5-HT2 receptors. The consequent cerebral ischaemia may cause the aura. This is followed by an increased blood flow in cranial vassels particularly of the scalp and dura. A related hypothesis to the latter component is that arteriovenous shunts (anastomoses) dilate, allowing increased blood flow which in turn permits blood to bypass the cerebral tissues. These cause ischaemia which may produce the aura and engorgement in the cranial arteries in the cephalic region. The increased amplitude of pulsations in the cranial arteries, including the meningeal branches of the carotid artery, are thought to be the source of the pain. 5-HT released from platelets or from serotonergic nerves possibly arising from the midbrain raphe system may also act on sensory pain fibres via 5-HT3 receptors.
Ergot Alkaloids
Dongyou Liu in Handbook of Foodborne Diseases, 2018
The most important ergot alkaloid producers come from the teleomorphic genus Claviceps of the family Clavicipitaceae (order Hypocreales). Characterized by its cylindrical asci, thickened ascus apices, and filiform ascospores that often disarticulate into part-spores, the family Clavicipitaceae encompasses 36 teleomorphic genera with known sexual cycle (i.e., Aciculosporium, Ascopolyporus, Atkinsonella, Atricordyceps, Balansia, Berkelella, Cavimalum, Cepsiclava, Claviceps, Cordycepioideus, Dussiella, Epichloë, Epicrea, Helminthascus, Heteroepichloë, Hypocrella, Konradia, Loculistroma, Metacordyceps, Moelleriella, Mycomalmus, Myriogenospora, Neobarya, Neoclaviceps, Neocordyceps, Parepichloë, Periglandula, Phytocordyceps, Podocrella, Regiocrella, Romanoa, Shimizuomyces, Sphaerocordyceps, Stereocrea, Villosiclava, and Wakefieldiomyces) as well as 24 anamorphic genera with unknown sexual cycle (i.e., Aschersonia, Beauveria, Corallocytostroma, Culicinomyces, Drechmeria, Ephelis, Gibellula, Haptocillium, Harposporium, Hirsutella, Hymenostilbe, Isaria, Mariannaea, Metarhizium, Neomunkia, Neotyphodium, Nomuraea, Paecilomyces, Pochonia, Polycephalomyces, Pseudogibellula, Simplicillium, Sorosporella, and Ustilaginoidea) [5].
Biosensors for the detection of mycotoxins
Published in Toxin Reviews, 2022
Akansha Shrivastava, Rakesh Kumar Sharma
Ergot alkaloids are the secondary metabolites of fungi and these are produced by various species of Claviceps. The effect of this group of alkaloids has been shown in the middle ages called "Holy Fire" or "St. Anthony’s Fire", also known as the disease ergotism. Other alkaloids include ergometrine, ergotamine, and ergotoxine (Crews 2015, Miedaner and Geiger 2015). There are two forms of ergotism: Gangrenous, which affects the blood supply to extremities and convulsive, and ultimately affects the central nervous system. The fungal species which produce these alkaloids include Claviceps purpurea (rye and other cereals), Claviceps paspali (forage grass), Claviceps fusiformis, Claviceps gigantea, and Sphacelia sorghi (an anamorphic form of Claviceps). The clinical symptoms of ergotism are a manifestation in the form of gangrene, abortion, convulsions, suppression of lactation, and hypersensitivity (Berthiller et al. 2017). The ingestion of ergot occurs through infected cereals, commonly in the form of bread produced from contaminated flour. A recently reported another alkaloid from the same class, purpurolic acid from plant-parasitic sclerotia of Claviceps purpurea has been reported and considered as highly toxic for animal feed (Roberts et al. 2016). Ergot alkaloids contamination has been reported in rye food, wheat food, multigrain food, rye feed, wheat feed, and triticale feed. Among these samples, rye feed contained the highest amount of ergot alkaloids, i.e. 12,340 µg/kg (Malysheva et al. 2014).
Comparative study on the metabolism of the ergot alkaloids ergocristine, ergocryptine, ergotamine, and ergovaline in equine and human S9 fractions and equine liver preparations
Published in Xenobiotica, 2019
Wiebke Rudolph, Daniela Remane, Dirk K. Wissenbach, Frank T. Peters
As shown in Figure 1, all the studied ergot alkaloids consist of a lysergic acid amide moiety linked to a cyclic tripeptide structure containing different amino acids. e.g. alanine, leucine, phenylalanine, and valine (Garner et al., 1993). Depending on the combination of amino acids the accurate masses of the protonated molecules of the ergopeptine alkaloids differ being m/z 534.2711 for ergovaline, m/z 582.2711 for ergotamine, m/z 576.3180 for ergocryptine, and m/z 610.3024 for ergocristine. Deviations of the measured m/z values from the respective theoretical accurate masses ranging from –0.06 up to 0.96 ppm. The chemical structures of the compounds are given in Figure 1. All parent alkaloids and the detected metabolites showed a very characteristic fragmentation pattern which could be used to assign the sites of metabolic changes as exemplified for ergovaline in Figure 3. Fragments like m/z 223.1229 representing the unchanged ergoline structure and m/z 268.1444 reflecting the unchanged lysergic acid amide structure are common for all ergopeptine alkaloids. However, the latter can be differentiated via the m/z of the protonated molecules and the fragments representing the cyclic peptide structure after a neutral loss of water, i.e. m/z 249.1233 for ergovaline, m/z 297.1233 for ergotamine, m/z 291.1703 for ergocryptine, and m/z 325.1546 for ergocristine (Supplementary Tables S1–S4).
Pregnancy outcomes after suicide attempts by self-poisoning and drug overdose: experience of a clinical pharmacology consultation service in Izmir, Turkey
Published in Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, 2018
Although some agents can cause bleeding and pregnancy complications, the drugs taken for suicide attempts do not seem to be harmful to the human foetus. In our survey, two pregnant women experienced vaginal bleeding after taking ergotamine or rodenticide. The pregnancy with a high dose of ergotamine exposure resulted in a spontaneous abortion, but the other pregnancies resulted in healthy live births. Ergotamine poisoning can promote uterine contractions, and hence may cause foetal harm or abortion. Ergot alkaloids are contraindicated in all trimesters, but there are no conclusive data of an increased risk of birth defects. Brodifacoum and other superwarfarin rodenticides may also lead to fatal or nonfatal bleeding from any tissue or organ. Single cases resulting in a healthy birth, stillbirth, maternal and neonatal coagulopathy have been described following a rodenticide exposure during pregnancy. Our case of a woman who took brodifacoum at 12 weeks of gestation resulted in a maternal coagulopathy recovered completely. At week 39 of gestation, she delivered a healthy baby weighing 3400 g, measuring 50.1 cm in length (both 50th to 75th percentile).
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