Ergot contains numerous poisonous substances (alkaloids), which upon ingestion by animals may lead to poor growth rate, decreased feed consumption and poor feed efficiency. The effect will depend on the age or physiological stage of the animal, and the amount consumed. Results obtained in this study indicate that the consumption of diets containing more than 0.10% high alkaloid ergot by weanlin...

Reports of ergot poisoning are rare in the literature in English (Robertson and Ashby, 1928; Gabbai, Lisbonne, and Pourquier, 1951; Jones and Williams, 1966). The toxic effects of ergot appear to be enhanced in the presence of febrile and septic states and in liver disease (Brazeau, 1965), and we report a patient with ergotism leading to peripheral gangrene, who also suffered from acute hepatic...

Ergot alkaloids are nitrogen-containing natural products belonging to indole alkaloids. The best known producers are fungi of the phylum Ascomycota, e.g., Claviceps, Epichloë, Penicillium and Aspergillus species. According to their structures, ergot alkaloids can be divided into three groups: clavines, lysergic acid amides and peptides (ergopeptines). All of them share the first biosynthetic st...

Ergot alkaloids, produced by the plant parasitic fungi Claviceps purpurea are important pharmaceuticals. The chemistry, biosynthesis, bioconversions, physiological controls, and biochemistry have been extensively reviewed by earlier authors. We present here the research done on the organic synthesis of the ergot alkaloids during the past two decades. Our aim is to apply this knowledge to the sy...

Failure of the uterus to contract and retract following childbirth has for centuries been recognized as the most striking cause of postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) and complicates up to 10% of pregnancies globally. In the developing world, PPH is responsible for one maternal death every 7 minutes1. In the 19th century, uterine atony was treated by intrauterine placement of various agents with the ai...

Endophyte infected tall fescue (E+) is the base diet for nearly all beef cattle in the southern USA. It has been linked to a variety of toxicological conditions due to the presence of large numbers of ergot alkaloids. This study was designed to investigate the effects of E+ seed extract and selected ergot alkaloids on the detoxification pathway by cytochrome P450 (CYP3A4) enzyme system. Tests w...

Outbreaks of ergot poisoning (St Anthony’s fire) have occurred in Europe for centuries, the most recent being in 1 953. Ergot is the product of a parasitic fungus infecting grain, in particular rye, and has been recognised as the cause of St Anthony’s fire since the Middle Ages. However, it was not until 1920 that the amino-acid alkaloid, ergotamine, was isolated by Stoll. Ergotamine can reprod...

BACKGROUND In Australia, there is voluntary reporting of suspected adverse events (AEs) of therapeutic medicines. Some dopamine agonists (DAs) have serious AEs. OBJECTIVE We aimed to explore the pattern of DA AE reporting over two decades. METHODS We analysed AE case line listings obtained from the Australian Committee on the Safety of Medicines (ACSOM) for bromocriptine, cabergoline, pergo...

The principles and application of established and newer methods for the quantitative and semi-quantitative determination of ergot alkaloids in food, feed, plant materials and animal tissues are reviewed. The techniques of sampling, extraction, clean-up, detection, quantification and validation are described. The major procedures for ergot alkaloid analysis comprise liquid chromatography with ta...

Several fungi in two different families--the Clavicipitaceae and the Trichocomaceae--produce different profiles of ergot alkaloids, many of which are important in agriculture and medicine. All ergot alkaloid producers share early steps before their pathways diverge to produce different end products. EasA, an oxidoreductase of the old yellow enzyme class, has alternate activities in different fu...