Acute intoxication after ditakh fruit ingestion

Le ditax (Detarium senegalenseJ. F. Gmel.) : principales caractéristiques et utilisations au Sénégal

“…[15]. Pour désigner le fruit toxique, certains auteurs parlent de « variété toxique de 'ditakh' » [16,17], de « faux detah » [18], de « fruit toxique du Detarium » [19] ou alors de « variété à fruits amers de Detarium senegalense » [20,21]. D'autres auteurs parlent de « variété à fruits toxiques de Detarium senegalense » [22,23].…”

Comparison of phenolic and volatile profiles of edible and toxic forms of Detarium senegalense J. F. GMEL

“…Figure 8 shows volatile profiles of the two extracts and the principal difference between the two profiles is the detection of isovaleronitrile at 7.12 min retention time only in the whole toxic fruits. Presence of isovaleronitrile in toxic fruit pulp could explain the bitter almond odor release from toxic fruits and related by some authors (Berthelot et al, 2000;Adam et al, 1991). Chromatogram of whole fruits extracts between 6 and 7.3 min as well as the mass spectrum of isovaleronitrile are presented in Figure 8b.…”

“…The description of a bitter almond odor, which would be released from the toxic fruits related by Berthelot et al (2000), seems to confirm the involvement of 6'-O-galloyl-(R)-epiheterodendrin because cyanogenic glycosides have a bitter almond odor (Paris and Moyse-Mignon, 1947;D'Almeida, 1984). Moreover, the release of HCN was confirmed by Cavin (2007) by Prussian blue formation.…”

“…Since animals, in particular monkeys, do not consume toxic fruits because of their bitter odor (Berthelot et al, 2000), volatile compounds from whole fruits were extracted by solid phase micro-extraction and analyzed by GC-MS to seek an eventual difference between toxic and edible fruits. Figure 8 shows volatile profiles of the two extracts and the principal difference between the two profiles is the detection of isovaleronitrile at 7.12 min retention time only in the whole toxic fruits.…”

“…By describing D. senegalense species, Guillemin et al (1830), observed that this tree could produce edible or toxic fruit. Cases of intoxications have been reported one century and half ago but the compounds responsible for this toxicity have not been identified (Heckel and Schlagdenhauffen, 1889;Paris and Moyse-Mignon, 1947;D'Almeida, 1984;Imbert and Teyssier, 1986;Adam et al, 1991;Berthelot et al, 2000). Among previous studies which have been done on this field, we can mention Sambuc who did the first study on chemistry of D. senegalense fruits by giving an alcohol toxic fruits extract to dogs but no side effect was observed (Sambuc, 1887;Diatta, 1995;Cavin, 2007).…”