Amanitin and phallotoxin concentration in Amanita phalloides var. alba mushroom Ertugrul Kaya a , Ismail Yilmaz b, * , Zeynep Aydin Sinirlioglu c , Selim Karahan a , Recep Bayram d , Kursat Oguz Yaykasli e , Serdar Colakoglu f , Ayhan Saritas g , Zeki Severoglu h a Duzce University School of Medicine, Department of Pharmacology, Duzce, Turkey b Izmir Bozyaka Training and Research Hospital, Department of Pharmacology, Izmir, Turkey c Fatih University, Faculty of Engineering, Department of Genetics and Bioengineering, Istanbul, Turkey d Abant Izzet Baysal School of Medicine, Department of Pharmacology, Bolu, Turkey e Duzce University School of Medicine, Department of Medical Genetic, Duzce, Turkey f Duzce University School of Medicine, Department of Anatomy, Duzce, Turkey g Duzce University School of Medicine, Department of Emergency Medicine, Duzce, Turkey h Marmara University Faculty of Art and Sciences, Department of Biology, Istanbul, Turkey article info Article history: Received 28 July 2013 Received in revised form 27 September 2013 Accepted 2 October 2013 Available online 15 October 2013 Keywords: Amanitin Phalloidin Amanita phalloides var. alba HPLC abstract Although rarely seen, Amanita phalloides var. alba, a variety of A. phalloides type mush- rooms, causes mushroom poisoning resulting in death. Since it is frequently confused with some edible mushrooms due to its white colored cap and macroscopic appearance, it becomes important in toxicological terms. Knowledge of the toxin amount contained in this mushroom type is invaluable in the treatment of cases involving poisoning. In this study, we examined the toxin levels of various parts of the A. phalloides var. alba mush- room growing Duzce region of Turkey. Toxin analyses were carried out for A. phalloides var. alba, which were collected from the forests Duzce region of Turkey in 2011, as awhole and also separately in its spore, pileus, gills, stipe and volva parts. The alpha amanitin, beta amanitin, gamma amanitin, phalloidin and phallacidine analyses of the mushrooms were carried out using the RP-HPLC method. A genetic analysis of the mushroom showed that it had similar genetic characteristics as A. phalloides and was a variety of it. The lowest toxins quantity was detected in spores, volva and stipe among all parts of the mushroom. The maximum amount of amatoxins was measured in the gills. The pileus also contained a high amount of amatoxins. Generally, amatoxins and phallotoxin concentrations were lower as compared to A. phal- loides, but interestingly all toxins other than gamma toxin were higher in the spores of A. phalloides var. alba. The amount of toxin in all of its parts had sufficient concentrations to cause death. With this study, the amatoxin and phallotoxin concentrations in A. phalloides var. alba mushroom and in its parts have been revealed in detail for the first time. Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Approximately 50 of over 2000 mushroom types iden- tified worldwide have toxic effects (North, 1967; Escudié et al., 2007). Belonging to these 50 species, some Amanita species that are often encountered in our country are * Corresponding author. Tel.: þ90 532 285 958 2; fax: þ90 232 261 444 4. E-mail address: driyilmaz@yahoo.com (I. Yilmaz). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Toxicon journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/toxicon 0041-0101/$ – see front matter Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.toxicon.2013.10.008 Toxicon 76 (2013) 225–233