FRACTIONS FROM LADINO CLOVER WHICH INHIBIT BIOLOGICAL SYSTEMS

Abstract

Currently, many workers believe that bloat in cattle and sheep results from any factor which interferes with eructation or which causes entrapment of gases in the rumen. Legumes which cause bloat contain substances that inhibit both muscle activity and the eructation reflex (Parsons et al., 1955; Weiss, 1953). Lindahl et al. 1954 have reported that alfalfa saponin induces bloat in sheep and cattle and that yucca saponin does not. Evans and Evans (1949) reported hydrogen cyanide from white clover as an inhibitor of smooth muscle activity and as a possible cause of bloat. Heath and Park (1953) have found, in white clover, a cholinesterase inhibitor which they suggested might be associated with bloat. Ferguson (1949 Ferguson (1950) found that tricin, a flavanoid from alfalfa, inhibited smooth muscle motility. Recently, Parsons et al. 1955 reported that legume juices and ruminal contents of bloated animals inhibit intestinal motility. Theories of the cause of bloat in ruminants have been reviewed by Cole et al. 1945, 1956, Clark and Weiss (1952) and Dougherty (1953). Thus far, techniques to measure muscle inhibition from legumes have included kymographic tracings and gross animal observations. In this study sensitive procedures were desired to test small amounts of plant constituents. Assays involving measurements of red cell cholinesterase (ChE) activity and of the oxygen consumption of rat diaphragm were adapted to supplement results obtained from kymographic tracings. By these techniques, ladino clover was tested for substances which can be inhibitory to muscle systems since such substances could be associated with bloat