TOXIC AND TERATOGENIC ALKALOIDS OF WESTERN RANGE PLANTS

Livestock that graze in the range areas of the western United States are in a hazardous toxicologic environment. Many plants, which may be part of the routine diet of these livestock, readily produce acute toxicosis or teratogenic effects. Nitrogencontaining compounds, especially alkaloids, are the active principles in many of these botanically-unrelated plants. These alkaloids represent a variety of unrelated structural types common only in the classic sense that alkaloids are nitrogen-containing and biologically highly active. Recent work in the author’s laboratory has established the teratogenic potential of three range genera—Veratrum, Lupinus, and Astragalus. Three teratogens, all steroidal alkaloids, have been isolated and structurally elucidated from Veratrum and shown to be responsible for the natural cyclopic effects. Experimental work suggests a similarity between the Lupinus and Astragalus-induced malformations and malformations induced by the highly active nitrogen-containing lathryrogens. © 1969, American Chemical Society. All rights reserved.