Use of lectin histochemistry to diagnose Sida carpinifolia (Malvaceae) poisoning in sheep

Abstract

The plants of the genera Astragalus and Oxytrops in the USA (Molyneux and James 1982, James and Nielsen 1990), Swainsona in Australia (Colegate and others 1979) and Ipomoea in Mozambique (Balogh and others 1999) and in Brazil (Tokarnia and others 2000) have been reported to produce lysosomal storage disease when consumed by livestock. Such plants have been reported to affect cattle, sheep, goats and horses (Misra and Misra 1965, Laws and Anson 1968, Colegate and others 1979, James and others 1981, James and Panter 1989, Kirkpatrick and Burrows 1990, Balogh and others 1999). The disease is caused by the indolizidine alkaloid swainsonine, which is an inhibitor of the lysosomal enzyme α-mannosidase. The condition induces the storage of mannose-containing oligosaccharides in the lysosomes of several types of cell, especially neurons, hepatocytes and acinar and pancreatic cells (Dorling and others 1980, Agamanolis 1995, Stegelmeier and others 1995, Jolly and Walkley 1997).