Tricholoma Flavovirens Toxicology Research
Indications of hepatic and cardiac toxicity caused by subchronic Tricholoma
flavovirens consumption
P. Nieminena, V. Kärjäb, and A.-M. Mustonena
Food and Chemical Toxicology
Volume 46, Issue 2, February 2008, Pages 781-786
The confirmed finding of increased plasma CK activities and the novel observations of the present study – increased CK-MB activities, elevated plasma bilirubin concentrations and signs of pericardial inflammation – indicate that regular T. flavovirens consumption should not be recommended.
The results also enforce previous findings that the harmful effects probably require prolonged exposure and high amounts of ingested mushroom. In this context, occasional consumption of T. flavovirens would probably be harmless except in sensitive individuals, such as persons on medication, children or during pregnancy (see also Tofani, 2003).
Due to the findings of toxicity after repeated meals and controversy regarding the taxonomical position of T. flavovirens, the marketing of T. equestre (or T. flavovirens or T. auratum) was recently prohibited in Italy (Ministero della Salute, 2002), France (Ministère de la Sante et des Solidarites, 2004) and Spain (Ministerio de Sanidad y Consumo, 2006) and, in contrast to the situation after the first findings of toxicity (Korhonen, 2002), T. flavovirens is no longer considered edible in the most
recent Finnish textbooks (Salo et al., 2006).
5. Conclusions
(1) No morbidity or mortality could be detected in the mice consuming freshly frozen T. flavovirens at 12 g kg?1 d?1 for 4 weeks. (2) The exposed mice had higher plasma bilirubin concentrations and higher CK and CK-MB activities than the control mice indicating hepato-, myo- and cardiotoxicity. (3) Signs of hepato- or myotoxicity were not present in the histological samples, but the cardiac samples showed increased incidence of pericardial inflammation in the T. flavovirens-fed mice. (4) Repeated consumption of T. flavovirens should be avoided.