تسجيل الدخول

تسجيل

Vertebrates , Amphibians

المؤلف:  Sue Jickells , Adam Negrusz (Editors)

المصدر:  Clarkes Analytical Forensic Toxicology

الجزء والصفحة:  128

2026-10-01

23

Vertebrates

Amphibians

Of the amphibians, the toads are of major interest to the toxicologist because a number of species produce noxious substances in their dermal glands. These compounds include amines, peptides, proteins, steroids and both water-soluble and lipid-soluble alkaloids. With the exception of the last, these substances are produced by the toad itself rather than bio accumulated. The genus Bufo exudes the alkaloid bufotenine (N, N-dimethyl-5-hydroxytrypta mine; Fig. 1), and there have been reports of attempts to gain psychedelic effects by licking the toad or smoking its venom, although Lyttle et al. (1996) point out that the psychedelic effects of bufotenine cannot be confirmed by objective studies. Bufotenine is also a product of the 5-HT degradation pathway, and its presence in urine has been suggested as a diagnostic indicator of psychiatric disorders (Takeda et al. 1995): these workers devised a three-dimensional HPLC method with electrochemical detection to measure bufotenine in urine. An ESI-LC-MS method for the determination of bufotenine and other potentially hallucinogenic N-dimethylated indoleamines in human urine has also been described by Forsstrom et al. (2001).

Figure 1 Bufotenine.