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Ergot alkaloids in Norwegian wild grasses: a mass spectrometric approach
Author(s) -
Uhlig Silvio,
Vikøren Turid,
Ivanova Lada,
Handeland Kjell
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
rapid communications in mass spectrometry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.528
H-Index - 136
eISSN - 1097-0231
pISSN - 0951-4198
DOI - 10.1002/rcm.3005
Subject(s) - lysergic acid , ergonovine , chemistry , claviceps purpurea , ergotamine , stereochemistry , biochemistry , medicine , psychology , psychiatry , migraine , myocardial infarction , angina
Ergot alkaloids are mycotoxins which are produced among fungi in the family Clavicipitaceae. Poisoning with ergot alkaloids is an important veterinary problem in animal husbandry and has recently also been recognised in wild animals. While the poisoning syndrome observed in domestic animals such as cattle, horses and sheep is usually caused by endophyte‐infected grass, the recently observed ergotism among Norwegian cervids is probably due to infection of wild grasses with Claviceps . Mass spectrometry is today the method of choice for the rapid qualitative and quantitative determination of many natural compounds. This study uses tandem quadrupole mass spectrometry as well as ion trap mass spectrometry in connection with electrospray(+) ionisation for the quantification, screening and fragmentation of ergot alkaloids in extracts from Claviceps sclerotia that had been picked from wild grasses from several locations in Norway. Ergotamine, ergovaline, ergonovine and ergocryptine were available as standards and were quantified in the extracts, while ergocrystine, ergocornine, ergonine/ergosine, lysergic acid and lysergol were identified on the basis of their molecular weights and semi‐quantified. Ergocrystine dominated the alkaloid spectrum of most extracts. Levels of the quantified alkaloids were in the range 0.2–9300 µg/g. Several unknown ergot alkaloids were found in the extracts. MS n experiments identified some as simple lysergic acid amide derivatives, while othes are probably related to ergocrystine and ergocryptine by dehydration, dehydrogenation and/or amino acid substitution at R 1 of the peptide moiety. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.