Cardiac glycosides are a class of organic compounds that increase the output force of the heart and decrease its rate of contractions by inhibiting the cellular sodium-potassium ATPase pump. Their beneficial medical uses include treatments for congestive heart failure and cardiac arrhythmias; however, their relative toxicity prevents them from being widely used. Most commonly found as secondary metabolites in several plants such as foxglove plants and milkweed plants, these compounds nevertheless have a diverse range of biochemical effects regarding cardiac cell function and have also been suggested for use in cancer treatment.
Digitalis is a genus of about 20 species of herbaceous perennial plants, shrubs, and biennials, commonly called foxgloves.
Digitalis purpurea, the foxglove or common foxglove, is a toxic species of flowering plant in the plantain family Plantaginaceae, native to and widespread throughout most of temperate Europe. It has also naturalized in parts of North America, as well as some other temperate regions. The plant is a popular garden subject, with many cultivars available. It is the original source of the heart medicine digoxin. This biennial plant grows as a rosette of leaves in the first year after sowing, before flowering and then dying in the second year. It generally produces enough seeds so that new plants will continue to grow in a garden setting.
Nerium oleander, commonly known as oleander or rosebay, is a shrub or small tree cultivated worldwide in temperate and subtropical areas as an ornamental and landscaping plant. It is the only species currently classified in the genus Nerium, belonging to subfamily Apocynoideae of the dogbane family Apocynaceae. It is so widely cultivated that no precise region of origin has been identified, though it is usually associated with the Mediterranean Basin.
Cerbera odollam is a tree species in the family Apocynaceae commonly known as the suicide tree or pong-pong. It bears a fruit known as othalanga whose seeds yield a potent poison called cerberin that has been used for trials by ordeal, suicide, and poisonings.
Eranthis hyemalis, the winter aconite, is a species of flowering plant in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae, native to calcareous woodland habitats in France, Italy and the Balkans, and widely naturalized elsewhere in Europe.
Cicuta, commonly known as water hemlock, is a genus of four species of highly poisonous plants in the family Apiaceae. They are perennial herbaceous plants which grow up to 2.5 meters (8 ft) tall, having distinctive small green or white flowers arranged in an umbrella shape (umbel). Plants in this genus may also be referred to as cowbane or poison parsnip. Cicuta is native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, mainly North America and Europe, typically growing in wet meadows, along streambanks and other wet and marshy areas. These plants bear a close resemblance to other members in the family Apiaceae and may be confused with a number of edible or poisonous plants. The common name hemlock may also be confused with poison hemlock, or with the Hemlock tree.
Adonis vernalis, known variously as pheasant's eye, spring pheasant's eye, yellow pheasant's eye and false hellebore, is a perennial flowering plant in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae. It is found in dry meadows and steppes in Eurasia. More specifically, this plant grows in a wide range of locations which include open forests, forest clearings, dry meadows, mesic steppe, and mostly calcareous soil. Isolated populations are found from Spain in the west across Central Europe with fine examples in Valais, Switzerland, and southern Europe, reaching southern Sweden in the north and Abruzzo in the south, with its main area of distribution being the Pannonian Basin and the West Siberian Plain. In contrast to most other European Adonis species, the flowers appear in springtime, and are up to 80 mm (3.1 in) in diameter, with up to 20 bright yellow petals. Not only do the flowers begin to grow, but so do the plants aerial organs, from around April to May.
Actaea rubra, the red baneberry or chinaberry, is a poisonous herbaceous flowering plant in the family Ranunculaceae, native to North America.
Aconitum napellus, monkshood, aconite, Venus' chariot or wolfsbane, is a species of highly toxic flowering plants in the genus Aconitum of the family Ranunculaceae, native and endemic to western and central Europe. It is an herbaceous perennial plant growing to 1 m tall, with hairless stems and leaves. The leaves are rounded, 5–10 cm (2.0–3.9 in) diameter, palmately divided into five to seven deeply lobed segments. The flowers are dark purple to bluish-purple, narrow oblong helmet-shaped, 1–2 cm (0.39–0.79 in) tall. Plants native to Asia and North America formerly listed as A. napellus are now regarded as separate species. The plant is extremely poisonous in both ingestion and body contact. It is the most poisonous plant in all of Europe.
Persin is a fungicidal toxin present in the avocado. Persin is an oil-soluble compound structurally similar to a fatty acid, a colourless oil, and it leaches into the body of the fruit from the seeds.
Cerbera manghas, commonly known as the sea mango, tangena or bintaro is a small evergreen coastal tree growing up to 12 metres (39 ft) tall. It is native to coastal areas in Africa, Asia, Australasia, and the Pacific islands. It is classified as one of the three species in the genus Cerbera that constitute mangroves.
A cardenolide is a type of steroid. Many plants contain derivatives, collectively known as cardenolides, including many in the form of cardenolide glycosides (cardenolides that contain structural groups derived from sugars). Cardenolide glycosides are often toxic; specifically, they are heart-arresting. Cardenolides are toxic to animals through inhibition of the enzyme Na+/K+-ATPase, which is responsible for maintaining the sodium and potassium ion gradients across the cell membranes.
Veratrum album, the false helleborine, white hellebore, European white hellebore, or white veratrum is a poisonous plant in the family Melanthiaceae. It is native to Europe and parts of western Asia.
Oleandrin is a cardiac glycoside found in the poisonous plant oleander. As a main phytochemical of oleander, oleandrin is associated with the toxicity of oleander sap, and has similar properties to digoxin.
Cotyledon tomentosa is a species of flowering plant in the family Crassulaceae, native to South Africa.
Antiarins are cardiac glycoside poisons produced by the upas tree. There are two closely related forms, α-antiarin and β-antiarin. The two share the same aglycone, antiarigenin, but differ in the sugar group that is attached to it.
Daphnin is a plant toxin with the chemical formula C15H16O9 and is one of the active compounds present in the Eurasian and North African genus Daphne of the Thymelaeaceae, a plant family with a predominantly Southern Hemisphere distribution with concentrations in Australia and tropical Africa.
Taxine alkaloids, which are often named under the collective title of taxines, are the toxic chemicals that can be isolated from the yew tree. The amount of taxine alkaloids depends on the species of yew, with Taxus baccata and Taxus cuspidata containing the most. The major taxine alkaloids are taxine A and taxine B although there are at least 10 different alkaloids. Until 1956, it was believed that all the taxine alkaloids were one single compound named taxine.
Carboxyatractyloside (CATR) is a highly toxic diterpene glycoside that inhibits the ADP/ATP translocase. It is about 10 times more potent than its analog atractyloside. While atractyloside is effective in the inhibition of oxidative phosphorylation, carboxyatractyloside is considered to be more effective. The effects of carboxyatractyloside on the ADP/ATP translocase are not reversed by increasing the concentration of adenine nucleotides, unlike its counterpart atractyloside. Carboxyatractyloside behavior resembles bongkrekic acid while in the mitochondria. Carboxyatractyloside is poisonous to humans as well as livestock, including cows and horses.
