Suspected myotoxicity of edible wild mushrooms.

Recently, the widely consumed yellow tricholoma Tricholoma flavovirens caused delayed rhabdomyolysis and fatalities in humans in France and Poland and triggered elevated plasma creatine kinase activities in mice. Furthermore, the highly appreciated king boletus (Boletus edulis) caused similar responses in experimental mice. Because of this, it was hypothesized that other fungi could also contain chemical compounds that would cause similar myotoxic effects. To test the suspected myotoxicity of other wild mushrooms consumed by tradition, 86 mice were exposed for 5 days to 3, 6, or 9 g/kg body mass/day of edible mushrooms representing diverse genera (Russula spp, Cantharellus cibarius, Albatrellus ovinus, and Leccinium versipelle) mixed with regular laboratory rodent diet. The plasma creatine kinase activity increased with all studied mushroom species at 9 g/kg body mass/day, whereas the histologic appearance of muscle and liver samples was unaffected. The results support the hypothesis that the previously observed toxic effects are not specific to T. flavovirens, but probably represent an unspecific response requiring individual sensitivity and a significant amount of ingested mushroom to manifest itself.