Due to increasing participation in outdoor activities, many people visit the emergency room for various symptoms after mistaking poisonous plants for medicinal herbs. The toxicity of Arisaematis rhizome is due to its content of calcium oxalate, which causes painful oropharyngeal edema, hypersalivation, aphonia, oral ulceration, esophageal erosion, and hypocalcemia. We report a case of accidental poisoning after chewing and spitting of the root of A. rhizome, resulting in focal symptoms-such as oral pain, swelling and drooling-that required only conservative management. A 54-year-old male and his 58-year-old wife developed oral pain, swelling and drooling after accidentally chewing and spitting the root of the A. rhizome plant as a medicinal herb. Their symptoms started immediately after chewing on and spitting out the root of A. rhizome, and they were unable to speak due to oral pain, swelling, and hypersalivation on arrival at the emergency department. They were treated with antihistamines and corticosteroids and painkillers. A few hours after treatment, they had improved and were discharged from the hospital.
Adrenal Cortex Hormones ; Aphonia ; Calcium Oxalate ; Edema ; Emergency Service, Hospital ; Histamine Antagonists ; Humans ; Hypocalcemia ; Male ; Mastication ; Middle Aged ; Oral Ulcer ; Plants ; Plants, Medicinal ; Plants, Toxic ; Poisoning* ; Rhizome ; Sialorrhea ; Spouses

Urolithiasis and calcium oxalate crystal deposition diseases are still significant medical problems. In the course of nephrocalcin cDNA cloning, we have identified FKBP-12 as an inhibitory molecule of calcium oxalate crystal growth. lambdagt 11 cDNA libraries were constructed from renal carcinoma tissues and screened for nephrocalcin cDNA clones using anti-nephrocalcin antibody as a probe. Clones expressing recombinant proteins, which appeared to be antigenically cross-reactive to nephrocalcin, were isolated and their DNA sequences and inhibitory activities on the calcium oxalate crystal growth were determined. One of the clone lambdagt 11 #31-1 had a partial fragment (80 bp) of FKBP-12 cDNA as an insert. Therefore, a full-length FKBP-12 cDNA was PCR-cloned from the lambdagt 11 renal carcinoma cDNA library and was subcloned into an expression vector. The resultant recombinant FKBP-12 exhibited an inhibitory activity on the calcium oxalate crystal growth (Kd=10(-7) M). Physiological effect of the extracellular FKBP-12 was investigated in terms of macrophage activation and proinflammatory cytokine gene induction. Extracellular FKBP-12 failed to activate macrophages even at high concentrations. FKBP-12 seems an anti-stone molecule for the oxalate crystal deposition disease and recurrent stone diseases.
Animals ; Base Sequence ; Calcium Oxalate/*antagonists & inhibitors ; Carcinoma, Renal Cell ; Crystallization ; DNA, Complementary ; Extracellular Space ; Glycoproteins/genetics ; Humans ; Kidney Calculi/*prevention & control ; Kidney Neoplasms ; Male ; Mice ; Mice, Inbred ICR ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Recombinant Fusion Proteins/genetics/metabolism ; Tacrolimus Binding Protein 1A/genetics/*metabolism