Possible molecular mechanism for acute encephalopathy by angel-wing mushroom ingestion - Involvement of three constituents in onset

Tomohiro Suzuki; Tomohiro Asakawa; Fumihiko Maekawa; Eiki Kimura; Yuki Tezuka; Luna Nakamura; Takumi Sato; Yuto Arai; Jae-Hoon Choi; Masakazu Suzuki; Hideo Dohra; Hirofumi Hirai; Hirokazu Kawagishi

doi:10.1016/j.toxicon.2022.106958

Possible molecular mechanism for acute encephalopathy by angel-wing mushroom ingestion - Involvement of three constituents in onset

Toxicon. 2023 Jan 1:221:106958. doi: 10.1016/j.toxicon.2022.106958. Epub 2022 Oct 28.

Authors

Tomohiro Suzuki¹, Tomohiro Asakawa², Fumihiko Maekawa³, Eiki Kimura⁴, Yuki Tezuka⁵, Luna Nakamura⁵, Takumi Sato⁵, Yuto Arai⁶, Jae-Hoon Choi⁷, Masakazu Suzuki⁶, Hideo Dohra⁷, Hirofumi Hirai⁷, Hirokazu Kawagishi⁸

Affiliations

¹ Center for Bioscience Research and Education, Utsunomiya University, Tochigi, 321-8505, Japan; Research Institute for Mushroom Science, Shizuoka University, Shizuoka, 422-8529, Japan.
² Tokai University Institute of Innovative Science and Technology, Kanagawa, 259-1193, Japan.
³ National Institute for Environmental Studies, Tsukuba, Japan.
⁴ National Institute for Environmental Studies, Tsukuba, Japan; Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Tokyo, Japan.
⁵ Center for Bioscience Research and Education, Utsunomiya University, Tochigi, 321-8505, Japan.
⁶ Graduate School of Science and Technology, Shizuoka University, Shizuoka, 422-8529, Japan.
⁷ Research Institute for Mushroom Science, Shizuoka University, Shizuoka, 422-8529, Japan; Graduate School of Science and Technology, Shizuoka University, Shizuoka, 422-8529, Japan; Research Institute of Green Science and Technology, Shizuoka University, Shizuoka, 422-8529, Japan.
⁸ Research Institute for Mushroom Science, Shizuoka University, Shizuoka, 422-8529, Japan; Faculty of Agriculture, Shizuoka University, Shizuoka, 422-8529, Japan. Electronic address: kawagishi.hirokazu@shizuoka.ac.jp.

PMID: 36377137
DOI: 10.1016/j.toxicon.2022.106958

Abstract

In Japan in 2004, 59 people who had consumed angel-wing mushroom, Pleurocybella porrigens, experienced acute encephalopathy, and of these 17 died. We purified a lethal protein to mice, pleurocybelline (PC), from P. porrigens. Although PC caused no damage to the brain, PC formed a complex with a lectin (PPL) and showed exo-protease activity, degrading substrates from both N- and C-termini. In addition, the presence of an unstable toxic compound, pleurocybellaziridine (PA), in the mushroom was demonstrated. We hypothesized that the complex and PA are involved in disease development and verified that apoptotic cells in the hippocampus were significantly increased by injection of the mixture of PC, PPL, and PA, indicating that these substances might be involved in acute encephalopathy.

Keywords: Acute encephalopathy; Angel-wing mushroom; Pleurocybella porrigens; Pleurocybelline.

MeSH terms

Agaricales*
Animals
Brain
Brain Diseases* / chemically induced
Lectins
Mice
Mushroom Poisoning* / complications

Substances

Lectins