Valutazione della tossicità di Crepis Lacera in ruminanti al pascolo

The aim of the current study was to isolate and characterize active compounds from the plant Crepis lacera and investigate their biological activity in vitro. The plant belongs to the Asteraceae family and is commonly found in several areas of Italy where farmers frequently claim the plant as the cause of death for grazing ruminants. Necropsy conducted on two sheep dead after grazing large amount of the plant revealed liver and kidney lesions. Scientific evidence are not reported in literature, and the supposed toxicity of C. lacera cannot be supported. Thus a phytochemical study of the plant was carried out and revealed many compounds namely sesquiterpenes and phenolic compounds occurring in organic solvent extracts. The cytotoxicity study showed that none of the compounds tested altered the viability of bovine kidney cells MDBK after 24 hours of treatment but three compounds were cytotoxic after 48 hours.