Effects of swanisonine isolated from Ipomoea carnea on guinea pigs.

CHOLICH LUCIANA A; GARCIA ENRIQUE N; TEIBLER GLADYS; LERTORA JAVIER; ACOSTA DE PEREZ OFELIA C

Rosario

Congreso; XLI Reunion Anual de la Asociacion Argentina de Farmacologia Experimental; 2009

Facultad de Bioquimica

The toxic principle of Ipomoea carnea is an indolizidine alkaloid named Swainsonine (SW). This is a potent inhibitor of lysosomal á-mannosidase and Golgi a-mannosidase-II, resulting in lysosomal accumulation of incompletely processed oligosaccharides. The intoxication is characterized by cytoplasmic vacuolization of neurons, thyroid, liver, kidneys and pancreas. Also it causes immunodeficiency and animals became susceptible to the occurrence of pneumonia. The main objective of the present study was to evaluate some toxic effects of SW on guinea pigs. Four animals received 0,36mg/kg/day of SW during 42 days. The intoxicated animals were clinically normal. Samples of pancreas and lung were fixed in 10% neutral buffered formalin at room temperature, embedded in paraffin, sectioned at 5 µm thickness, stained with hematoxylin and eosin. Cytoplasmic vacuoles were found in pancreas accompanied by a significant elevation of AST level (p > 0, 0015). Besides it was found alterations in lung compatible with pneumonia as a consequence of acute inflammation. We conclude that the isolated SW from I. carnea induces a cytoplasmic vacuolization of exocrine pancreas and could cause immunosuppression in guinea pigs.