Histological evaluation of brain damage caused by crude quinolizidine alkaloid extracts from lupines

The effects of the intracerebroventricular (ICV) administration of crude extracts of lupin quinolizidine alkaloids (LQAs) were studied in adult rat brain tissue. Mature L. exaltatus and L. montanus seeds were collected in western Mexico, and the LQAs from these seeds were extracted and analyzed by capillary gas chromatography. This LQA extract was administered to the right lateral ventricle of adult rats through a stainless steel cannula on five consecutive days. While control animals received 10 µl of sesame oil daily (vehicle), the experimental rats (10 per group) received 20 ng of LQA from either L. exaltatus or from L. montanus. All the animals were sacrificed 40 h after receiving the last dose of alkaloids, and their brains were removed, fixed and coronal paraffin sections were stained with haematoxylin and eosin. Immediately after the administration of LQA the animals began grooming and suffered tachycardia, tachypnea, piloerection, tail erection, muscular contractions, loss of equilibrium, excitation, and unsteady walk. In the brains of the animals treated with LQA damaged neurons were identified. The most frequent abnormalities observed in this brain tissue were "red neurons" with shrunken eosinophilic cytoplasm, strongly stained pyknotic nuclei, neuronal swelling, spongiform neuropil, "ghost cells" (hypochromasia), and abundant neuronophagic figures in numerous brain areas. While some alterations in neurons were observed in control tissues, unlike those found in the animals treated with LQA these were not significant. Thus, the histopathological changes observed can be principally attributed to the administration of sparteine and lupanine present in the alkaloid extracts

Chemical composition and antinutrient content of three Lupinus species from Jalisco, Mexico

In this study, the proximal chemical analysis and contents of antinutritional factors (lectins, antitrypsin activity, cyanogenic glycosides, alkaloids, phytates and α -galactosides) of Lupinus exaltatus, L. reflexus, and L. mexicanus seeds were determined. The seeds of these lupins comprised 384.1, 388.0, 367.0 g/kg protein, which contained all the essential amino acids for human beings except glutamine and asparagine in their seed protein. OnlyL. exaltatus was free from lectins. Trypsin inhibitor concentrations ranged from 1.12 to 2.05 TIU/mg. Cyanogenic glycosides were present at low concentrations in the studied lupins. Total alkaloid content ranged from 14.0 to 44.0 g/kg and phytate content ranged from 11.1 to 1.856 g/kg. The main α -galactosides found in seeds were raffinose, stachyose, verbacose and ajucose. Stachyose was the predominant sugar in the studied species. Therefore, these wild lupins could be considered a good source of protein after a suitable reduction in the content of alkaloids. © 2000 Academic Press