The established tradition of consuming and marketing wild mushrooms has focused attention on mycotoxicity, which has become a global issue. In the present study, we describe the toxins found in a previously unknown poisonous European mushroom Tricholoma terreum. Fifteen new triterpenoids terreolides A-F (1-6) and saponaceolides H-P (8-16) were isolated from the fruiting bodies of the toxic mushroom T. terreum. Terreolides A-C (1-3) possessed a unique 5/6/7 trioxaspiroketal system, whereas terreolides D-F (4-6) possessed an unprecedented carbon skeleton. Two abundant compounds in the mushroom, saponaceolide B (7) and saponaceolide M (13), displayed acute toxicity, with LD50 values of 88.3 and 63.7 mg kg(-1) when administered orally in mice. Both compounds were found to increase serum creatine kinase levels in mice, indicating that T. terreum may be the cause of mushroom poisoning ultimately leading to rhabdomyolysis.
Keywords: NMR spectroscopy; X-ray diffraction; enzymes; natural products; structure elucidation.
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