title: Synergistic interaction of glycoalkaloids alpha-chaconine and alpha-solanine on developmental toxicity in Xenopus embryos.
abstract: The embryo toxicities of two major potato glycoalkaloids, alpha-chaconine and alpha-solanine, were examined individually and in mixtures using the frog embryo teratogenesis assay-Xenopus. Calculations of toxic units (TUs) were used to assess possible antagonism, synergism or response addition of several mixtures ranging from approximately 3:1 to 1:20 TUs of alpha-chaconine to alpha-solanine. Some combinations exhibited strong synergism in the following measures of developmental toxicity: (a) 96-hr LC50, defined as the median concentration causing 50% embryo lethality; (b) 96-hr EC50 (malformation), defined as the concentration causing 50% malformation of the surviving embryos; and (c) teratogenic index which is equal to LC50/EC50 (malformation). The results indicated that each of the mixtures caused synergistic mortality or malformation. Furthermore, these studies suggested that the synergism observed for a specific mixture cannot be used to predict possible synergism of other mixtures with different ratios of the two glycoalkaloids; toxicities observed for individual glycoalkaloids may not be able to predict toxicities of mixtures; and specific combinations found in different potato varieties need to be tested to assess the safety of a particular cultivar.
authors.affiliation: US Environmental Protection Agency, Environmental Research Laboratory, Gulf Breeze, FL 32561, USA.
authors.forename: J R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Rayburn
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Friedman
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Bantle
mesh_terms: D000014:Abnormalities, Drug-Induced / Q000209:etiology*; D000818:Animals; D004357:Drug Synergism; D004625:Embryo, Nonmammalian / Q000187:drug effects*; D047108:Embryonic Development; D012992:Solanine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000633:toxicity*; D015996:Survival Rate; D013723:Teratogens / Q000633:toxicity*; D018675:Toxicity Tests; D014981:Xenopus / Q000196:embryology
chemical_list: D013723:Teratogens; D012992:Solanine; C011860:alpha-chaconine