Dioscorine | Wikipedia audio article
Channel: Subhajit Sahu
Date: 2018-10-29

This is an audio version of the Wikipedia Article:
Dioscorine

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SUMMARY
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Dioscorine is an alkaloid toxin isolated from the tubers of tropical yam on several continents. It has been used as a monkey poison in some African countries, and as an arrow poison to aid in hunting in several parts of Asia. It was first isolated from Dioscorea hirsute (synonymous with Dioscorea hirsuta) by Boorsma in 1894 and obtained in a crystalline form by Schutte in 1897, and has since been found in other Dioscorea species. Dioscorine is a neurotoxin that acts by blocking the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor. Dioscorine is generally isolated in tandem with other alkaloids such as dioscin but is usually the most potent toxin in the mixture. It is a convulsant, producing symptoms similar to picrotoxin, with which it shares a similar mechanism of action. (Dioscorine is not to be confused with dioscorin, the yam storage protein.)