Scientific elucidation of suicide tree

2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 17K09260
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Legal medicine
• Research Institution: Tohoku University
• Principal Investigator: Usui Kiyotaka 東北大学, 医学系研究科, 講師 (80567884)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 藤田 友嗣 岩手医科大学, 医学部, 講師 (50721974)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-04-01 – 2020-03-31
• Keywords: オオミフクラギ / Cerbera odollam / Cerbera manghas / 強心配糖体 / 質量分析 / Cerberin / Neriifolin / Tanghinin

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Cerbera odollam are evergreen trees bearing fruits that resemble the mango， and are widely distributed in India and Southeast Asia． These trees contain several highly toxic cardiac glycosides，and their kernels are sometimes used to commit suicide．These plants are very important for clinical and forensic medicine，because these plants have not only been used for committing suicide，but can also be used for homicide．However， unfortunately，enough data are not available on the detection methods and metabolism of these poisonous compounds．Our devised analytical method successfully detected the known cardenolide-type cardiac glycosides　from the C．odollam kernel extract using LC-QTOF-MS．We also detected only neriifolin (a deacetylated form of cerberin) and deacetyltanghinin in a victim’s biological samples．This indicates that these two compounds might have rapidly deacetylated in vivo．

Free Research Field

法中毒学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

Gaillardらの報告 (J．Ethnopharmacol．95．2004 123-126) によると，インドの一部の州だけでも1989-1999年の間に少なく見積もっても537人がこの種子で自殺したとされるが，生物試料からの検出法が確立されていないため，実際にはもっと多くの事件・事故があったと考えられる．また他殺に利用されていた場合，犯罪死を見逃していた可能性が非常に高かった．本研究では各種質量分析計を用いて，種子，血液及び尿から強心配糖体類を検出できる分析方法を確立した．これによりオオミフクラギのような強心配糖体類を含有する植物による中毒事件・事故における迅速な鑑定・診断が可能となった．