Development of a gas chromatography–mass spectrometry technique to diagnose white snakeroot (Ageratina altissima) poisoning in a cow

Abstract

An 8-year-old, crossbred beef cow was referred to the Indiana Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory at Purdue University for a complete necropsy in October 2009. The cow was the sixth to die in a 7-day period. Affected cows were reportedly stumbling and became weak, excitable, and recumbent. Histologically, myonecrosis was severe in the skeletal muscles and mild in the heart and tongue. According to the submitter, exposure to a poisonous plant was suspected, and a plant specimen received from this case was identified as white snakeroot (Ageratina altissima). Using the white snakeroot specimen, a gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analytical method for the detection of tremetone and dehydrotremetone (2 components of white snakeroot) was developed. Both tremetone and dehydrotremetone were detected in the plant specimen. Dehydrotremetone was recovered from the liver, while neither component was recovered in the rumen content. In the past, because of the lack of standard reference material, the diagnosis of white snakeroot poisoning was based mainly on history of exposure and the presence of the plant in the rumen. The analytical method described herein can be used to document exposure to tremetone or dehydrotremetone in cases of suspected white snakeroot poisoning when coupled with the appropriate clinical signs and lesions.