بررسي ميزان آلكالوييدهاي پيروليز يديني سنسيو در نمونه هاي گندم و آرد استان مازندران

Qualitative and quantitative analysis of senecioʹs pyrrolizidine alkaloids in wheat and flour of Mazandaran province

The pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs) are a group of chemicals found in a variety of plant species throughout the world. These toxic alkaloids are distributed mainly in Senecio (Compositae), Crotalaria (Leguminosae) and Heliotropium (Boraginaceae) species. Plants containing these alkaloids cause significant mammalian morbidity and mortality including in humans. Upon ingestion, metabolic activation in liver converts the potent compounds into highly reactive electrophilies capable of reacting with cellular macromolecules Forming adducts which can initiate acute or chronic toxicity. One of these plants is Senecio vulgaris that is abundant in wheat farms of Mazandaran province. When wheat (Triticum spp) is harvesting, seeds and aerial parts of Senecio are collected with it. Since presence of PAs in S. vulgaris are stablished in researches, so in this research, quality and quantity of PAs of wheat and flour contaminated with Senecio in Mazandaran province farms are studied. The specimens collected from all flour Factories and silo of Mazandaran. The Ehrlich reaction and spectrophotometeric method used for the qualitative and quantitative examinations, respectively. Amount of PAs and their N-oxides calculated as basis of senecionine. The reaction is specific for alkaloids having an unsaturated basic moiety of <3-PAs and their N-oxides in 0.512g of specimens was 0.02 to 0.05 mg and in 0.512g of S. vulgaris was 0.4mg as senecionine. LD50 of senecionine, fatal toxic dose of PAs and nonfatal toxic dose of PAs are 64.12±2.24 mg/kg, 6-167 mg/kg, 2-27 mg/kg, respectively. In comparison between amount of PAs and their N-Oxides in the wheat and its flour and above toxic doses, the specimens can not produce acute complications of PAs but long-term exposure to low levels of PAs may cause cumulative damage to body organs especially hepatotoxicity and regarding to the daily diet of the people chronic toxicity is possible.