ergotoxine Biochem.
(ɜːgəˈtɒksiːn, -ɪn)
[f. ergot + toxin + -ine5.]
A mixture of three similar alkaloids present in ergot and used as an oxytocic, formerly thought to be a single compound; also, any of the alkaloids of this mixture.
| 1906 Barger & Carr in Chem. News XCIV. 89/2 The crystalline alkaloid ergotinine was obtained from ergot by Tanret more than thirty years ago... We have now obtained the second alkaloid in a state of chemical purity, and suggest for it the name ergotoxine. 1937 Gwynne-Vaughan & Barnes Fungi (ed. 2) 253 Owing to the presence of ergotoxine the sclerotia, if included in the grain used for bread, give rise to serious disease. 1952 L. Marion in Manske & Holmes Alkaloids II. 377 This anomaly..has recently been explained away by the discovery that ergotoxine is not homogeneous, but a complex mixture. 1958 Fruton & Simmonds Gen. Biochem. (ed. 2) xxxiii. 862 Ergot contains the pharmacologically active alkaloids ergometrine, ergotamine, and several ergotoxines. |