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1798. A shake-up for nature lovers
402
COSMETICS, TOILETRIES AND HOUSEHOLD PRODUCTS
Inhibition was demonstrated with enzyme extracted from the homogenized liver overnight with water but not with enzyme extracted overnight with 0.1 M-sodium fluoride, which presumably inhibited the formation of phosphorylase b from phosphorylase a and so rendered the b kinase enzyme inactive. 1798. A shake-up for nature lovers Wilson, B. J., Wilson, Christina H. & Hayes, A. W. (1968). Tremorgenic toxin from Penicillium cyclopium grown on food materials. Nature, Lond. 220, 77. Among the plethora of adverse effects produced by chemical toxins, tremor occurs only rarely. One compound inducing tremors is the appropriately-named tremorine (l,4dipyrrolidine-2-butyne) which is oxidized in the body to an even more active metabolite (Hammer et al. Life Sci. 1968, 7, 197). Aspergillusflavus, apparently dissatisfied with its aflatoxin achievement, also produces a metabolite described as a tremorgen-convulsant (Wilson & Wilson, Science, N.Y. 1964, 144, 177). But as the work cited above has shown, Aspergillus does not have the monopoly: Penicillium cyclopium produces a very similar if not the same neurotoxin. The compound is thermally decomposed during mass spectral analysis and the heaviest detectable ion has been assigned the formula C37Ha4NO6CI. The toxin's structural identification is being pursued. lntraperitoneal injection of the purified toxin in doses as small as 250 tzg/kg produces tremors, which persist for several hours in mice and rats. More severe neurological effects are induced by higher doses and may lead to chronic or tetanic convulsions and eventually to death. Trembling, which replaces the convulsive seizures in survivors after a few hours, sometimes persists for 24-72 hr. There is also some evidence that the toxin may depress reabsorption in the renal tubules. Cyclopiazonic acid, a convulsive agent isolated by other workers from P. cyclopium, was not detected in the fungal isolates used in this study.
COSMETICS, TOILETRIES AND H O U S E H O L D PRODUCTS 1799. Fate of ingested detergents Michael, W. R. (1968). Metabolism of linear alkylate sulfonate and alkyl benzene sulfonate in albino rats. Toxic. appl. Pharmac. 12, 473. Previous investigations have indicated that the ingestion of traces of anionic surfactants left on food utensils after washing up with detergents presents no hazard to health (Cited in F.C.T. 1968, 6, 680). Nevertheless, details of the fate of such compounds in animals do not come amiss. In the study cited above, 80-90 ~o of an oral dose (0.6-40 mg/rat) of either a linear or a branched-chain alkyl benzene sulphonate (LAS and ABS, respectively) was found to be absorbed from the alimentary tract of rats, but metabolites of either compound excreted in the animals' urine and faeces within 72 hr accounted nearly quantitatively for the intake. Transport was probably mainly via the portal vein, since little of the radioactivity derived from the sulphur-35 with which the compounds were labelled was found in the lymph. Some 60-65 ~o of the radioactivity from LAS appeared in the urine as sulphophenyl butanoic and sulphophenyl pentanoic acids, while about 35 ~o appeared in the bile compared with 8090~o of that from ABS. The biliary metabolites of ABS appeared in the faeces and were sulphophenyl carboxylates, which retained much of the lipid-like character of their source and possessed carboxylate chains of 11-13 carbon atoms. Unlike the ABS metabolites, the
COSMETICS, TOILETRIES AND HOUSEHOLD PRODUCTS
Inhibition was demonstrated with enzyme extracted from the homogenized liver overnight with water but not with enzyme extracted overnight with 0.1 M-sodium fluoride, which presumably inhibited the formation of phosphorylase b from phosphorylase a and so rendered the b kinase enzyme inactive. 1798. A shake-up for nature lovers Wilson, B. J., Wilson, Christina H. & Hayes, A. W. (1968). Tremorgenic toxin from Penicillium cyclopium grown on food materials. Nature, Lond. 220, 77. Among the plethora of adverse effects produced by chemical toxins, tremor occurs only rarely. One compound inducing tremors is the appropriately-named tremorine (l,4dipyrrolidine-2-butyne) which is oxidized in the body to an even more active metabolite (Hammer et al. Life Sci. 1968, 7, 197). Aspergillusflavus, apparently dissatisfied with its aflatoxin achievement, also produces a metabolite described as a tremorgen-convulsant (Wilson & Wilson, Science, N.Y. 1964, 144, 177). But as the work cited above has shown, Aspergillus does not have the monopoly: Penicillium cyclopium produces a very similar if not the same neurotoxin. The compound is thermally decomposed during mass spectral analysis and the heaviest detectable ion has been assigned the formula C37Ha4NO6CI. The toxin's structural identification is being pursued. lntraperitoneal injection of the purified toxin in doses as small as 250 tzg/kg produces tremors, which persist for several hours in mice and rats. More severe neurological effects are induced by higher doses and may lead to chronic or tetanic convulsions and eventually to death. Trembling, which replaces the convulsive seizures in survivors after a few hours, sometimes persists for 24-72 hr. There is also some evidence that the toxin may depress reabsorption in the renal tubules. Cyclopiazonic acid, a convulsive agent isolated by other workers from P. cyclopium, was not detected in the fungal isolates used in this study.
COSMETICS, TOILETRIES AND H O U S E H O L D PRODUCTS 1799. Fate of ingested detergents Michael, W. R. (1968). Metabolism of linear alkylate sulfonate and alkyl benzene sulfonate in albino rats. Toxic. appl. Pharmac. 12, 473. Previous investigations have indicated that the ingestion of traces of anionic surfactants left on food utensils after washing up with detergents presents no hazard to health (Cited in F.C.T. 1968, 6, 680). Nevertheless, details of the fate of such compounds in animals do not come amiss. In the study cited above, 80-90 ~o of an oral dose (0.6-40 mg/rat) of either a linear or a branched-chain alkyl benzene sulphonate (LAS and ABS, respectively) was found to be absorbed from the alimentary tract of rats, but metabolites of either compound excreted in the animals' urine and faeces within 72 hr accounted nearly quantitatively for the intake. Transport was probably mainly via the portal vein, since little of the radioactivity derived from the sulphur-35 with which the compounds were labelled was found in the lymph. Some 60-65 ~o of the radioactivity from LAS appeared in the urine as sulphophenyl butanoic and sulphophenyl pentanoic acids, while about 35 ~o appeared in the bile compared with 8090~o of that from ABS. The biliary metabolites of ABS appeared in the faeces and were sulphophenyl carboxylates, which retained much of the lipid-like character of their source and possessed carboxylate chains of 11-13 carbon atoms. Unlike the ABS metabolites, the