Zygacine is a highly potent compound with an LD 50 of 2.0 +/- 0.2В mg/kg when administered intravenously and 132 +/- 21В mg/kg when administered orally to mice. In 1994, a man presented to the emergency department with gastrointestinal symptoms, a depressed heart rate and low blood pressure after inadvertently eating plant material derived from a species of Zigadenus.

Outdoorsmen have also fallen victim to zygacine poisoning by mistaking the death camas for other edible plants. Moist conditions are more conducive to cattle poisoning as it makes it easier to extract the plant from the soil. Sheep seem to be poisoned most often due to their grazing behavior as they pull up and consume the entire plant. Poisonings generally occur in the early spring when the death camas plant is most abundant and other food sources for livestock are limited. A one-time loss of 500 sheep was reported in 1964 and in 1987, 250 sheep died from death camas poisoning. It has been for many years - and continues to be - responsible for the poisonings and deaths of many types of livestock including sheep, cattle, horses, pigs and fowl. Zygacine poisoning via ingestion of death camas had been reported as early as the nineteenth century when Native Americans sold the death camas as food to railroad workers who died after eating the bulbs. Although it was first isolated in 1913, the structure and configuration of zygacine weren't reported until 1959. The minimal pharmacological activity of zygadenine led to subsequent investigations of Zygadenus venenosus and Zygadenus paniculatus which revealed that zygacine was one of the primary toxic components. They were able to isolate zygadenine, the alkamine present in alkaloids of the genus Zigadenus. Scientists first attempted to determine the toxic ingredient(s) of alkaloid extracts of Zygadenus plants in 1913. For animals, treatment consists of atropine, picrotoxin and activated charcoal. Suggested treatment of poisoning in humans include administering dopamine and atropine to the patient. Poisoned animals suffer from loss of appetite, lack of coordination, digestive and excretory disorders, labored breathing, racing heartbeat and frequently death. Symptoms in humans include nausea, vomiting, slowed heart rate, low blood pressure and ataxia. The effects of zygacine consumption are lethal. Despite this resemblance, the death camas plant lacks the distinct onion odor and is bitter to taste. Death camas is prevalent throughout North America and is frequently the source of poisoning for outdoorsmen and livestock due to its resemblance to other edible plants such as the wild onion. These plants are commonly known and generally referred to as death camas.

Zygacine is a steroidal alkaloid of the genera Toxicoscordion, Zigadenus, Stenanthium and Anticlea of the family Melanthiaceae.

Death mountain 3d model