Mushroom poisoning of Panaeolus subbalteatus from Ningxia, northwest China, with species identification and tryptamine detection.
Toxicon : official journal of the International Society on Toxinology – August 28, 2024
Source: PubMed
Summary
In Northwest China, wild mushroom poisonings led to a breakthrough discovery: The hallucinogenic mushroom P. subbalteatus contains extremely high levels of natural tryptamines. Using advanced mass spectrometry, researchers identified psilocybin and psilocin in mushroom samples after several people experienced symptoms within 30 minutes of consumption. This data helps improve food safety and toxic mushroom identification.
Abstract
Mushroom poisoning is a significant contributor to foodborne disease outbreaks in China. This study focuses on two Panaeolus subbalteatus poisoning incidents accompanied by epidemiological investigations, species identification, and toxin detection in Ningxia, northwest China. In these two poisoning incidents, some patients exhibited gastrointestinal or neurological symptoms approximately 0.5 h after ingestion of a large amount of wild mushroom. Specifically, in Case 1, one of the three patients experienced nausea, vomiting, and numbness in the throat and limbs; in Case 2, one patient reported dizziness and an abnormal sense of direction. Through morphological and phylogenetic analyses, mushroom specimens were identified as P. subbalteatus. Psilocybin and psilocin were detected in mushroom samples, and only psilocin was detected in biological samples by liquid chromatography-triple quadrupole-linear ion trap mass spectrometry screening. The average psilocybin and psilocin contents in mushroom samples were 1532.2-1760.7 and 114.5-136.0 mg/kg (n = 3), respectively. Moreover, only psilocin was detected in blood and urine samples, with average concentrations 0.5-1.2 ng/mL (n = 3) and 2.5-3.1 ng/mL (n = 3), respectively. These findings provide technical support for managing similar incidents in the future.