Determination of zygacine in Zigadenus venenosus (death camas) by image analysis on thin layer chromatography.

摘要

A new method, utilizing image analysis on TLC, was developed for the determination of zygacine, the neurotoxic steroidal alkaloid in death camas. Plant samples were collected during 1992-94 from 3 upper grassland sites and 4 subalpine sites near Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada. The quantitative detection level of zygacine on TLC was 1 鎔. Diurnal changes in zygacine levels were not evident, nor were there differences in zygacine levels in death camas growing at high- or low-elevation habitats. The image analysis method was also applied to the determination of vanillylveracevine in Zigadenus elegans.