Ryegrass staggers: isolation of potent neurotoxins lolitrem A and lolitrem B from staggers - producing pastures

Authors: White EP, Gallagher RT, Mortimer PH
Publication: New Zealand Veterinary Journal, Volume 29, Issue 10, pp 189-190, Oct 1981
Publisher: Taylor and Francis

Animal type: Livestock
Subject Terms: Fungal/yeast, Locomotor, Mycotoxicosis, Nervous system/neurology, Nutrition/metabolism, Pasture/crop, Poisoning - plant, Disease/defect, Toxicology
Article class: Correspondence

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Abstract: We wish to report the isolation of two potent neurotoxins from herbage collected from pastures on which the disease of livestock known as “ryegrass staggers” occurred. These neurotoxins have been partially characterised by their mass spectral properties (see below) and appear to be new compounds not previously reported. We propose the general name lolitrems for the neurotoxins, based on their association with ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.) and on their ability to produce tremors in animals, and name the isolated compounds lolitrem A and lolitrem B. The recent and popular idea that tremorgenic mycotoxins are likely causative agents of ryegrass staggers has been investigated in New Zealand, Australia and the United Kingdom…

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