Medicinal Plants Classification Biosynthesis and ... - Index of

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S.M.M. Vasconcelos, J.E.R. Honório Júnior, R.N.D. Cavalcante de Abreu et al.
The main use of the plants of Crotalaria genus is agriculture, by green adubation and
vegetal cover of soil, which helps plantation. Plants of this genus are of great interest due to
the intoxication and death of bovines. Other problem is the exposition of humans to these
plants in folk medicine (Atal, Sawhney, 1973; Mattocks, 1986). Studies performed by our
group showed that C. retusa has anxiolitic action at doses of 50 and 100mg in Swiss mice
(Honório-Júnior et al., 2008).
6.1. Pirrolizidinic Alkaloid (PA)
These plants are rich in PA, which are the main plant derived toxins that affect humans
and animals (Mattocks, 1986; Huxtable, 1990).
PA are found mainly in three plant families: Boraginaceae, Compositae and
Leguminosae. Some of the most toxic plants of these families are showed in the Table 2.
Many cases of intoxication by Crotalaria were described in many countries, in horses
(Gibbons et al., 1953, Gardiner et al., 1965; Arzt, Mount, 1999; Nobre et al., 2004a,b), cattle
(Barri, Adam, 1981; Winter et al., 1990), pigs (Peckham et al., 1974; Mcgrath et al., 1975),
birds (Norton, O'Rourke, 1979; Alfonso et al., 1993) and goats (Barri, Adam, 1984; Nobre et
al., 2005). C. retusa and C. crispata are responsible by the disease named Kimberley horse
disease or Walkabout disease in Australia (Rose et al., 1957a,b; Gardiner et al., 1965).
Table: Important toxic plants that have PA.
Family Species
Amsinckia intermédia
Borago officinalis
Cynoglossum officinale
Boraginaceae
Echium lycopsis
Heliotropium europaem
Symphytum officiuale
Senecio alpinus
S. brasiliensis
S. cinerária
S. glabellus
Compositae S. intergerrimus
S. jacobaea
S. logilobus
S. riddelli
S. vulgaris
Crotalaria retusa
C. spectabilis
Leguminosae C. crispat
C. dura
C. globifera