Daigremontianin is a bufadienolide. Bufadienolides are steroids and cardiac glycosideaglycones (meaning that they bind with carbohydrates to form cardiac glycosides) that are similar to cardenolides, differing only in the structure of the C-17 substituent on the D ring. This chemical has been found to be toxic in experiments on mice.[1][2] It is one of five bufadienolides that have been isolated from Kalanchoe daigremontiana.
Toxicity
Crassulaceans are one of the prime sources of bufadienolide cardiac glycosides (including daigremontianin) responsible for an estimated 33% of cattle mortalities related to plant poisoning in South Africa. Crassulacean bufadienolides cause cardiac poisoning, but repeated small doses cause a condition called cotyledonosis,[3] an intoxication affecting nervous and muscular systems of small animals, particularly, sheep in the Karoo area of South Africa.
^Wagner, H.; Lotter, H.; Fischer, M. (1986). "Die toxischen und sedierend wirkenden Bufadienolide von Kalanchoe daigremontiana Hamet et Perr" [The Toxic and Sedative Bufadienolides of Kalanchoe daigremontiana Hamet et Perr.]. Helvetica Chimica Acta (in German). 69 (2): 359–367. doi:10.1002/hlca.19860690215.
