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The ergot alkaloid ergotamine is produced by Claviceps purpurea, a parasitic fungus that commonly infects crops and pastures of high agricultural and economic importance. In humans and livestock, symptoms of ergotism include necrosis and gangrene, high blood pressure, heart rate, thermoregulatory dysfunction and hallucinations. However, ergotamine is also used in pharmaceutical applications to treat migraines and stop post-partum hemorrhage. To define its effects, metabolomic profiling of the brain was undertaken to determine pathways perturbed by ergotamine treatment. Metabolomic profiling identified the brainstem and cerebral cortex as regions with greatest variation. In the brainstem, dysregulation of the neurotransmitter epinephrine, and the psychoactive compound 2-arachidonylglycerol was identified. In the cerebral cortex, energy related metabolites isobutyryl-L-carnitine and S-3-oxodecanoyl cysteamine were affected and concentrations of adenylosuccinate, a metabolite associated with mental retardation, were higher. This study demonstrates, for the first time, key metabolomic pathways involved in the behavioural and physiological dysfunction of ergot alkaloid intoxicated animals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The complex ergot alkaloids, ergovaline and ergotamine, cause dysregulation of physiological functions, characterised by vasoconstriction as well as thermoregulatory and cardiovascular effects in grazing livestock. To assess the effect of the mycotoxins, blood pressure and heart rate of male mice were measured, and metabolite profiling undertaken to determine relative abundances of both ergotamine and its metabolic products in body and brain tissue. Ergotamine showed similar cardiovascular effects to ergovaline, causing elevations in blood pressure and reduced heart rate. Bradycardia was preserved at low-levels of ergovaline despite no changes in blood pressure. Ergotamine was identified in kidney, liver and brainstem but not in other regions of the brain, which indicates region-specific effects of the toxin. The structural configuration of two biotransformation products of ergotamine were determined and identified in the liver and kidney, but not the brain. Thus, the dysregulation in respiratory, thermoregulatory, cardiac and vasomotor function, evoked by ergot alkaloids in animals observed in various studies, could be partially explained by dysfunction in the autonomic nervous system, located in the brainstem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The aphid Rhopalosiphum padi L. is a vector of Barley yellow dwarf virus (BYDV) in wheat and other economically important cereal crops. Increased atmospheric CO2 has been shown to alter plant growth and metabolism, enhancing BYDV disease in wheat. However, the biochemical influences on aphid metabolism are not known.Objectives: This work aims to determine whether altered host-plant quality, influenced by virus infection and elevated CO2, impacts aphid weight and metabolism.Methods: Untargeted 1H NMR metabolomics coupled with multivariate statistics were employed to profile the metabolism of R. padi reared on virus-infected and non-infected (sham-inoculated) wheat grown under ambient CO2 (aCO2, 400 µmol mol−1) and future, predicted elevated CO2 (eCO2, 650 µmol mol−1) concentrations. Un-colonised wheat was also profiled to observe changes to host-plant quality (i.e., amino acids and sugars).Results: The direct impacts of virus or eCO2 were compared. Virus presence increased aphid weight under aCO2 but decreased weight under eCO2; whilst eCO2 increased non-viruliferous (sham) aphid weight but decreased viruliferous aphid weight. Discriminatory metabolites due to eCO2 were succinate and sucrose (in sham wheat), glucose, choline and betaine (in infected wheat), and threonine, lactate, alanine, GABA, glutamine, glutamate and asparagine (in aphids), irrespective of virus presence. Discriminatory metabolites due to virus presence were alanine, GABA, succinate and betaine (in wheat) and threonine and lactate (in aphids), irrespective of CO2 treatment.Conclusion: This study confirms that virus and eCO2 alter host-plant quality, and these differences are reflected by aphid weight and metabolism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]