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Detection of maple toxins in mare's milk
Johannes Sander1,2, Michael Terhardt1, Nils Janzen1,3
1Screening-Labor Hannover, Ronnenberg, Germany.
Background:
Plants from the Sapindaceae family that are consumed by horses (maple) and humans (ackee and litchi) are known to contain the toxins hypoglycin A and methylenecyclopropylglycine which cause seasonally occurring myopathy in horses and entero-encephalopathic sickness in humans. Vertical transmission of these toxins from a mare to her foal has been described once. However the mare's milk was not available for analysis in this case. We investigated mare's milk in a similar case.
Objective:
We hypothesized that hypoglycin A and methylenecyclopropylglycine, like other amino acids' are secreted into the milk.
Animals:
Mare with atypical myopathy.
Methods:
A sample of the mare's milk and 6 commercial horse milk samples were extracted with a methanolic standard solution and analyzed for hypoglycin A, methylenecyclopropylglycine, and metabolites using tandem mass spectrometry after column chromatographic separation.
Results:
There were hypoglycin A (0.4 μg/L) and the associated metabolites methylenecyclopropylacetyl glycine and carnitine (18.5 and 24.6 μg/L) plus increased concentrations of several acylcarnitines in the milk. The milk also contained methylenecyclopropylformyl glycine and carnitine (0.8 and 60 μg/L). The latter substances were also detected in 1 of 6 commercial horse milk samples.
Conclusions And Clinical Importance:
Transmission of the maple toxins can occur through mare's milk. Vertical transmission of Sapindacea toxins might also have importance for human medicine, for example, after consumption of ackee or litchi.
