Disease-A-Month
Volume 55, Issue 6 , Pages 318-326 , June 2009

Akee Fruit and Jamaican Vomiting Sickness (Blighia sapida Köenig)

References 

  1. Feng PC. Hypoglycin-from ackee: a review. West Indian Med J. 1969;18:238–243
  2. Hill KR. The vomiting sickness of Jamaica (A review). West Indian Med J. 1952;1:243–264
  3. Scott H. On the vomiting sickness of Jamaica. Ann Trop Med Parasitol. 1916;10:1–78
  4. Hassall CH, Reyle K. Hypoglycin A, B: biologically active polypeptides from Blighia sapida. Nature. 1954;173:356–357
  5. Tanaka K, Kean EA, Johnson B. Jamaican vomiting sickness: biochemical investigation of two cases. N Engl J Med. 1976;295:461–467
  6. McTague JA, Forney R. Jamaican vomiting sickness in Toledo, Ohio. Ann Emerg Med. 1994;23:1116–1118
  7. Natalini B, Capodiferro V, De Luca C, et al. Isolation of pure (2S,1′S,2′S)-2-(2′-carboxycyclopropyl)glycine from Blighia sapida (akee). J Chromatogr A. 2000;873:283–286
  8. Golden KD, Kean EA, Terry SI. Jamaican vomiting sickness: a study of two adult cases. Clin Chim Acta. 1984;142:293–298
  9. Brown M, Bates RP, McGowan C, et al. Influence of fruit maturity on the hypoglycin A level in ackee (Blighia sapida). J Food Safety. 1992;12:167–177
  10. Golden KD, Williams OJ, Bailey-Shaw Y. High-performance liquid chromatographic analysis of amino acids in ackee fruit with emphasis on the toxic amino acid hypoglycin A. J Chromatogr Sci. 2003;40:441–446
  11. Chase GW, Landen WO, Soliman AG. Hypoglycin A content in the aril, seeds, and husks of ackee fruit at various stages of ripeness. J Assoc Off Anal Chem. 1990;73:318–319
  12. Manchester KL. Biochemistry of hypoglycin. FEBS Lett. 1974;23(40(suppl):S133–S139
  13. Chase GW, Landen WO, Gelbaum LT, et al. Ion-exchange chromatographic determination of hypoglycin A in canned ackee fruit. J Assoc Off Anal Chem. 1989;72:374–377
  14. Bressler R, Corredor C, Brendel K. Hypoglycin and hypoglycinlike compounds. Pharmacol Rev. 1969;21:105–130
  15. Wenz A, Thorpe C, Ghisla S. Inactivation of general acyl-CoA dehydrogenase from pig kidney by a metabolite of hypoglycin A. J Biol Chem. 1981;256:9809–9812
  16. Bressler R. The unripe akee-forbidden fruit. N Engl J Med. 1976;295:500–501
  17. Kean EA. Commentary on a review on the mechanism of ackee-induced vomiting sickness. West Indian Med J. 1988;3:139–142
  18. Singh P, Gardner M, Poddar S, et al. Toxic effects of ackee oil (Blighia sapida L) following subacute administration to rats. West Indian Med J. 1992;41:23–26
  19. Hautekeete ML, Degott C, Benhamou JP. Microvesicular steatosis of the liver. Acta Clin Belgica. 1990;45:311–326
  20. Tanaka K, Isselbacher KJ, Shih V. Isovaleric and α-methylbutyric acidemias induced by hypoglycin A: mechanism of Jamaican vomiting sickness. Science. 1972;175:69–71
  21. Tanaka K, Ikeda Y. Hypoglycin and Jamaican vomiting sickness. Prog Clin Biol Res. 1990;321:167–184
  22. Blake OA, Bennink MR, Jackson JC. Ackee (Blighia sapida) hypoglycin A toxicity: dose response assessment in laboratory rats. Food Chem Toxicol. 2006;44:207–213
  23. Moya J. Ackee (Blighia sapida) poisoning in the Northern Province, Haiti, 2001. Epidemiol Bull. 2001;22:8–9
  24. Joskow R, Belson M, Vesper H, et al. Ackee fruit poisoning: an outbreak investigation in Haiti 2000-2001, and review of the literature. Clin Toxicol. 2006;44:267–273
  25. Jellife DB, Stuart KL. Acute toxic hypoglycemia in the vomiting sickness of Jamaica. Br Med J. 1954;1:75–77
  26. Meda HA, Diallo B, Buchet J-P, et al. Epidemic of fatal encephalopathy in preschool children in Burkina Faso and consumption of unripe ackee (Blighia sapida) fruit. Lancet. 1999;35:536–540
  27. Larson J, Vender R, Camuto P. Cholestatic jaundice due to ackee fruit poisoning. Am J Gastroenterol. 1994;89:1577–1578
  28. Lebo DB, Ditto AM, Boxer MB, et al. Anaphylaxis to ackee fruit. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 1996;98:997–998
  29. Ware GM. Method validation study of hypoglycin A determination in ackee fruit. J AOAC Int. 2002;85:933–937
  30. Shimizu N, Yamaguchi S, Orii T. A study of urinary metabolites in patients with dicarboxylic aciduria for differential diagnosis. Acta Paediatr Japan. 1994;36:139–145
  31. Al-Bassam SS, Sherratt HS. The antagonism of the toxicity of hypoglycin by glycine. Biochem Pharmacol. 1981;30:2817–2824
  32. Krieger I, Tanaka K. Therapeutic effects of glycine in isovaleric acidemia. Pediatr Res. 1976;10:25–29
  33. Barennes H, Valea I, Boudat AM, et al. Early glucose and methylene blue are effective against unripe ackee apple (Blighia sapida) poisoning in mice. Food Chem Toxicol. 2004;42:809–815
  34. Lieu YK, Hsu BY, Price WA, et al. Carnitine effects on coenzyme A profiles in rat liver with hypoglycin inhibition of multiple dehydrogenases. Am J Physiol. 1997;272:E359–E366

 This article was published in: Barceloux DG. Medical Toxicology of Natural Substances: Foods, Fungi, Medicinal Herbs, Toxic Plants, and Venomous Animals. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2008. pp. 34-38. Copyright © 2008 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Reprinted with permission of John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

PII: S0011-5029(09)00027-3

doi: 10.1016/j.disamonth.2009.03.002

Disease-A-Month
Volume 55, Issue 6 , Pages 318-326 , June 2009

Article Tools

* Image Usage & Resolution