Studies on the Toxic Components of Rhodophyllus rhodopolius. I. The Biological Activities and Screening of the Toxic Principles

Rhodophyllus rhodopolius has so far been known as a poisonous mushroom, but its toxic principle has not been proved clearly yet. The aqueous extract of this mushroom showed the toxicity causing diarrhea and death to mice, while the methanol extract does not. Bile storage in the duodenal, and intestinal edema were observed by autopsy of the intoxicated mice. Fractionation of the aqueous extract by ultrafiltration, ion exchange column chromatography and gel filtration afforded protein fractions as a toxic component with molecular weight of about 40000. Furthermore, several kinds of assay related to diarrhea were examined in order to find a suitable method adaptable for fractionation of the toxic principle. As a result, the toxic fraction causing diarrhea and intestinal hemorhharge to suckling mice was also found to exhibit hemolytic activity. Accordingly, the examination of hemolytic activity in vitro is possibly employed for screening as an assay method instead of diarrhea.