PrincipleThe various mushroom poisoning syndromes are summarised together with elements underlining uncertainty and lack of knowledge. For each of the classical syndromes concerned, classified in delays inferior or superior to 6 hours, the toxins and their mechanisms of action, the main mushrooms responsible, the symptoms and their treatment are all presente...
In the past 10 years from 1991 to 2000, the number of consultations to the Japan Poison Information Center were 947 concerning mushroom poisonings. However, those from the hospital cases were not analyzed toxicologically. We examined toxicologically 20 cases (35 patients) of mushroom poisonings from 1993 to 2001. Investigation of amanita toxin poisoning was ...
In the context of excessive use of natural or synthetic psychoactive substances, with stimulating, psychedelic and hallucinogenic effects, an increase, if not a recurrence, in consumption of Psilocybe semilanceata has been observed in France over some fifteen years. Psilocybin and psilocin are the active compounds, responsible for the hallucinogenic effects ...
In this study a fatal case caused by the ingestion of magic mushrooms is reported. After a trip to the Netherlands a young girl had ingested a handful of psilocybe mushrooms with a soft drink. Soon later, she was trying to fly from the window and died in the street while falling from a room situated on the second floor of a house. The victim was not known by...
Capillary electrophoresis was utilized for the rapid determination of psilocybin in the hallucinogenic mushroom Psilocybe semilanceata. Following a simple two step extraction with 3.0 + 2.0 ml methanol, the hallucinogenic compound was effectively separated from matrix components utilizing capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) with a 10 mM borate/phosphate run...
The use of mushrooms containing the hallucinogenic substance psilocybin for intentional intoxication is relatively common. Occasionally, this results in adverse reactions with typical tachycardia that is not evidently caused by psilocybin. This study demonstrates the presence of phenylethylamine in the species Psilocybe semilanceata using gas chromatography-...
Case reportIntentional intoxication with natural hallucinogenic substances such as hallucinogenic mushrooms continues to be a major problem in the US and Europe, particularly in the harbor complex of northwest Poland (Pomerania). A case is described of Psilocybe intoxication in an 18-year-old man resulting in Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, arrhythmia, and m...
Among poisonous mushrooms, a small number may cause serious intoxication and even fatalities in man. Humans may become symptomatic after a mushroom meal for rather different reasons: (1) ingestion of mushrooms containing toxins, (2) large amounts of mushrooms may be hard to digest, (3) immunological reactions to mushroom-derived antigens, (4) ingestion of mu...
A number of the wild Danish mushrooms contain the hallucinogenic agent psilocybin which resembles LSD in many ways. The commonest of these are the "liberty cap" or "magic mushrooms" (Psilocybe semilanceata). On the basis of experience from USA and western Europa, increase in employment of this mushrooms as a hallucinogenic intoxicant may be anticipated in De...
The content of tryptamine derivatives in Psilocybe semilanceata, a popular hallucinogenic mushroom, was measured by high-performance liquid chromatography. Most of the 52 samples have been collected at several localities in Switzerland during a 1-5 year period. The content of psilocybin and baeocystin varied in the range of 0.21-2.02% and 0.05-0.77%, respect...
Ingestion of mushrooms containing psilocybin produces hallucinogenic effects and has become a popular form of substance abuse among some adolescents and young adults. We have reviewed the medical literature on psilocybin mushrooms and describe current patterns of use, provide background material on the botony and pharmacology of these crude drugs, and report...
The diagnosis of mushroom poisoning is based on three principles: the description of the mushroom, the toxicological analysis of the mushroom and, most important, the mushroom syndrome. Mushroom poisoning can be classified according to the lag time between the meal and the onset of symptoms. In this paper we will discuss mushroom poisoning with short and int...
Five cases of poisoning by indigenous mushroom Hikageshibiretake (Psilocybe argentipes) are reported. As this mushroom contains psilocybin, in general, clinical features were similar to those seen by pure psilocybin. Acute toxic stuporous state with complete amnesia in the culminating period occurred in one case, psychedelic state with dreamy consciousness i...
