Lorenz K
CRC Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr. 1979;11(4):311-54. doi: 10.1080/10408397909527267.
Ergot is caused by a fungus (Claviceps species) which has been found on hundreds of plants in almost every country of the world. The fungus can adapt itself to form many different varieties. New species of the fungus and new hosts are still discovered today. The alkaloids in ergot have caused hundreds of thousands of deaths in the Middle Ages after consumption of contaminated cereal grains, but during the last two decades there has not been a recorded outbreak of ergotism. Grain standards in most countries are very strict and do not permit grain which contains ergot to reach commercial food channels. All involved in cereal grain production and ulilization should be cognizant of the potential danger, however, since ergot contamination at levels above those permitted by grain standards cannot necessarily be detected by the normal evaluation of a flour sample in the cereal chemistry laboratory. There always have been and always will be ergot infections and a possible danger to human health, but man has learned to minimize the potential problem by using proper agricultural practices. Futhermore, techniques for the removal of ergot from contaminated grains have been developed. While human ergotism is a disease of the past, ergotism in animals still occurs frequently. The problem is not a simple one because of many unanswered questions. What is the tolerance of different breeds or species of livestock to ergot? What are the effects of low-level long-term ingestion of ergot on livestock? What is the difference in toxicity to animals of ergot from different cereal ingestion of ergot on livestock? What is the difference in toxicity to animals of ergot from different cereal grain varieties? What is the effect of storage and processing of cereal grain products on the potential ergot toxicity? The last and most important chapter in the history of ergot concerns ergot as a source of pharmacologically useful alkaloids which have found applications in internal medicine and obstetrics. The future promises to bring some new ergot alkaloids and some new uses. Recent research data indicate the possibility of using ergot alkaloids in contraceptives, which would be truly remarkable.
麦角病是由一种真菌（麦角菌属）引起的，这种真菌在世界上几乎每个国家的数百种植物上都有发现。这种真菌能够自我适应形成许多不同的变种。如今仍不断发现该真菌的新物种和新宿主。中世纪时，食用受污染的谷物后，麦角中的生物碱导致了数十万人死亡，但在过去二十年里，没有麦角中毒爆发的记录。大多数国家的谷物标准非常严格，不允许含有麦角的谷物进入商业食品渠道。然而，所有参与谷物生产和利用的人员都应该认识到潜在的危险，因为谷物化学实验室对面粉样本的常规评估不一定能检测出高于谷物标准允许水平的麦角污染。麦角感染一直存在，对人类健康始终存在潜在危险，但人类已学会通过采用适当的农业做法将潜在问题降至最低。此外，已开发出从受污染谷物中去除麦角的技术。虽然人类麦角中毒已成为过去的疾病，但动物麦角中毒仍频繁发生。由于许多问题尚未得到解答，这个问题并不简单。不同品种或种类的家畜对麦角的耐受性如何？长期低剂量摄入麦角对家畜有何影响？不同谷物品种的麦角对动物的毒性有何差异？谷物产品的储存和加工对潜在麦角毒性有何影响？麦角历史上最后也是最重要的一章涉及麦角作为药理学上有用生物碱的来源，这些生物碱已在内科和产科得到应用。未来有望带来一些新的麦角生物碱和一些新用途。最近的研究数据表明了在避孕药中使用麦角生物碱的可能性，这将是非常了不起的。
