Potato glycoalkaloids (1996)
Abstract
In man, meals of potatoes containing high levels of glycoalkaloids (principally alpha-solanine and alpha-chaconine) have produced effects on the gastro-intestinal tract and nervous system, and death. The acute oral toxicity of the potato glycoalkaloids would therefore seem to be greater in man than in laboratory animals; solanine itself displayed only moderate acute oral toxicity in rats. When injected into laboratory animals, alpha-solanine and alpha-chaconine have induced mainly liver and kidney damage and central nervous system effects. Repeated oral administration to rabbits of green potatoes containing glycoalkaloids resulted in effects on the gastro-intestinal tract, nervous system and blood. Foetal malformations and foetal deaths have been produced in laboratory animals following intraperitoneal injection or oral administration of alpha-solanine, alpha- and beta2-chaconine or potato glycoalkaloid mixtures during pregnancy. Limited bacterial assays (including an Ames test with alpha-solanine) have found no evidence of mutagenicity. alpha-Solanine and alpha-chaconine, each given by intraperitoneal injection, probably induced mutations in the liver DNA of (transgenic) mice.
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