4.5 Article

Fatal pyrrolizidine alkaloid poisoning of infants caused by adulterated Senecio coronatus

Journal

FORENSIC SCIENCE INTERNATIONAL
Volume 320, Issue -, Pages -

Publisher

ELSEVIER IRELAND LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.forsciint.2020.110680

Keywords

Senecio coronatus; LCMS; UPLC-MS; MS; Retrorsine-N-oxide; Pyrrolizidine alkaloids; Traditional medicine

Funding

  1. National Research Foundation of South Africa (NRF Grant) [84442]
  2. University of Johannesburg
  3. Stellenbosch University

Ask authors/readers for more resources

Senecio coronatus, commonly used in traditional medicine in South Africa, does not contain pyrrolizidine alkaloids. Fatal cases of hepatic sinusoidal obstruction syndrome in infants were caused by wrongly identified Senecio species containing large amounts of retrorsine-N-oxide. A validated UPLC-MS/MS method for detecting and quantifying pyrrolizidine alkaloids is described.
Senecio coronatus (known as izonkozonko and ubulibazi in Zulu) is commonly used in traditional medicine in South Africa as purification purgative and enemas for infants during weaning. We show for the first time that this species does not contain pyrrolizidine alkaloids and that reported cases of fatal hepatic sinusoidal obstruction syndrome in infants were caused by wrongly identified Senecio species containing large amounts of retrorsine-N-oxide. A validated ultra performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) method for the detection and quantitation of pyrrolizidine alkaloids is described. (c) 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Authors

I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.

Reviews

Primary Rating

4.5
Not enough ratings

Secondary Ratings

Novelty
-
Significance
-
Scientific rigor
-
Rate this paper

Recommended

No Data Available
No Data Available