TOXICOLOGICALLY SIGNIFICANT PROPERTIES OF FLY AGARICS AND CHEMICAL AND TOXICOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF POISONING BY THEM: SCIENTIFIC REVIEW

Abstract

Every year the number of poisonings by mushrooms of the genus Amanita increases, especially by species of A. muscaria and A. panterina. These species contain substances that affect the activity of the central nervous system (CNS). The most significant of them are: muscimol, ibotenic acid, muscarine. Muscimol (MUS) and ibotenic acid (IBO) are water–soluble derivatives of isoxazole. They have an antagonistic effect on the CNS, inhibiting and stimulating it through NMDA and GABA receptors, respectively. Mycoatropine or pantherine syndromes develop due to the combined effects of isoxazoles and other compounds of the fungus. MUS is the most toxicologically significant, as it can have a strong psychodisleptic effect, and can also cause depression of consciousness up to the development of coma. IBO is no less important in establishing the fact of the use of fly agaric, but in many cases it is almost completely converted into muscimol in the body. At this stage, methods are being actively developed that would make it possible to diagnose poisoning: qualitatively and quantitatively determine the derivatives of IBO in biological fluids. This paper examines the morphological features of A. muscaria and A. panterina, the clinical picture of poisoning, the chemical composition of the fungi and the mechanisms of action of toxicologically significant compounds, options for qualitative and quantitative analysis. Various methods for determining the etiology of poisoning exist – PCR, micro- and macroscopy, but they do not allow us to determine the exact number of toxicants. Precise physical and chemical methods are suitable for these purposes: chromatography, electrophoresis. At the same time, multi-stage sample preparation is necessary. Isolation from biofluids or fruit bodies occurs by liquid-liquid or solid-phase extraction. The universal and most common extractant is 75% methanol. Thin-layer chromatography with various solvent systems can be used for qualitative analysis. But such an analysis is non-specific and can be used rather for confirmation, since the detectors used are group-wide. Gas and high-performance liquid chromatography are used for quantitative determination. These are very precise, but difficult to prepare and relatively expensive methods. An alternative to chromatography is electrophoresis, an express method for separating MUS and IBO.