Mechanism of death in Syrian hamsters gavaged potato sprout material

Greened or sprouted potatoes contain increased concentrations of steroidal alkaloids that have caused intoxication and death in a wide variety of animal species, however, the cause of death in these animals has not been determined. Potato alkaloids can cause death when parenterally administered, and is attributed to the acetylcholinesterase inhibitory activity of solanine and chaconine. To determine the cause of death in animals ingesting potato sprout material, 40 Syrian hamsters were divided into 4 equal groups and gavaged once on day 0 either water, 300 mg of potato sprout material, 400 mg of potato sprout material, or 500 mg of potato sprout material. Tissues were examined grossly and microscopically at 72 hr post-gavaging and brain acetylcholinesterase activity of each hamster was measured. The 300-mg dose group had increased mean acetylcholinesterase activity compared with control hamster mean activity, and the 400-mg and 500-mg dose groups had 90% and 84% of the mean acetylcholinesterase activity of the control hamster mean activity. There was severe gastric and proximal small intestinal mucosal necrosis in those hamsters which died prior to euthanasia. Additionally, several hamsters had valvular endocarditis and infarcts. Death could not be attributed to the slight acetylcholinesterase inhibition in the 2 higher dose hamster groups and was related to the severe gastrointestinal necrosis which occurred in hamsters of these groups.