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Acute bracken poisoning in homogastric and ruminant animals

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 December 2011

W. Charles Evans ,
M. C. Patel  and
Y. Koohy
W. Charles Evans
Affiliation:
Department of Biochemistry and Soil Science, University College of North Wales, Bangor, Gwynedd LL57 2UW, Wales
M. C. Patel
Affiliation:
Department of Biochemistry and Soil Science, University College of North Wales, Bangor, Gwynedd LL57 2UW, Wales
Y. Koohy
Affiliation:
Department of Biochemistry and Soil Science, University College of North Wales, Bangor, Gwynedd LL57 2UW, Wales
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Synopsis

The toxicity of bracken fern (Pteridium aquilinum (L) Kuhn) is complicated because this plant elaborates more than one type of agent potentially harmful to livestock.

When simple-stomached animals are fed a diet containing some green fronds or rhizomes for a few weeks, they develop anorexia and inco-ordination symptoms; this polyneuritic syndrome shows all the characteristics of thiamine deficiency. Thiamine therapy is effective in curing the animal provided it is administered at the onset of clinical symptoms.

Bracken staggers in the horse and rhizome poisoning of pigs are diseases of this nature,i.e. an avitaminosis B1 has been induced. The causative agent in the fern is a steam-labile enzyme, thiaminase I, which destroys thiamine in such a way that it is no longer active in animal nutrition.

Acute cattle bracken poisoning occurs after frequent eating of the fern over a period of weeks.Haemorrhages and fever are the characteristic clinical symptoms, and the animal usually dies within a few days. The fundamental lesion is bone marrow aplasia resulting in a severe leucopenia and thrombocytopenia.Thiaminase I is not involved in this disease. Bracken contains an organic chemical(s) which poisons rapidly dividing cells in the bovine animal. Sheep are less sensitive to this toxic agent, although the condition has been described along with 'bright-blindness* in some parts of Britain (e.g. North York Moors).

Purification of the active principle causing cattle bracken poisoning from green fronds and rhizomes is far advanced; these methods are described, along with calf toxicity tests on each fraction. Chemical investigations are also under way to determine the nature of the components.

Whether the cattle factor, in small doses over an extended period of time (years), is also the agent causing tumours in livestock, is probable but not certain. Some bracken constituents shown to be carcinogenic in small animals, e.g. shikimic acid, quercetin or the tannin fraction, are not capable of producing acute cattle bracken poisoning; neither does safrole or 1-indanone.

Some of the sesquiterpene glycosides—the 'pterosides' and/or their aglycones, the 'pterosins', of which over 30 have been identified in bracken—are likely candidates. On the other hand, the active principle(s) may be something quite different; the search continues.

Type
Research Article
Information
Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Section B: Biological Sciences , Volume 81 , Issue 1-2: Bracken in Scotland , 1982 , pp. 29 - 64
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Society of Edinburgh 1982

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