Only horses in danger?

Some Acer species like box elder (Acer negundo L.) and sycamore (Acer pseudoplatanus L.) are known as cause of atypical pasture myopathy in Europe [1]. Hypoglycin A is described as a constituent in the seeds of several members of Aceraceae and Hippocastanoideae [2]. It is a toxic amino acid. The danger for intoxication is high by ingestion of the fruits and seeds especially in autumn and possible in blossoms or in the seedlings in the spring. Veterinarians recommend removing these plants near of pastures because of this illness of horses. One question is if other animals for example squirrels, wild boar, or insects also can be damaged after consumption. Simple extraction and high performance liquid chromatography method with UV detection at room temperature were developed to measure the presence of Hypoglycin A in plant extracts. Material of various parts of different Acer species was measured. A rapid detection of Hypoglycin A by HPTLC is not possible because of the presence of Leucin and Isoleucin in the samples with similar chromatrographic properties producing false positive results [3].

[1] Bochnia M. et al. PLOS ONE 2015, 10: e0136785;

[2] Frowden L, Pratt H Phytochemistry 1973, 12

[3] Baise E et al. Equine Veterinary Journal 2015, 1 – 4