Koshimizu K, Ohigashi H, Huffman M A
Department of Food Science and Technology, Faculty of Agriculture, Kyoto University, Japan.
Physiol Behav. 1994 Dec;56(6):1209-16. doi: 10.1016/0031-9384(94)90368-9.
Bitter principles and related constituents have been isolated from Vernonia amygdalina (Compositae), a plant ingested by wild chimpanzees sometimes suffering from parasite-related diseases in the Mahale Mountains National Park, Tanzania. These isolated constituents were the known sesquiterpene lactones (vernodalin, vernolide, hydroxyvernolide), and new stigmastane-type steroid glucosides (vernonioside A1-A4: for bitter tasting constituents and vernonioside B1-B3; for nonbitter related constituents). Antiparasitic activity tests of these constituents together with quantitative analyses of the major active constituents, vernodalin and vernonioside B1, supported the hypothesis that Mahale chimpanzees control parasite-related diseases by ingesting the pith of this plant, found to contain several steroid-related constituents. While the major active steroid-related constituents (vernonioside B1 and its primary aglycone, vernoniol B1) do not taste bitter themselves, it was hypothesized that the highly bitter constituents including vernodalin may play an important role as signals to the ingester guiding their choice of the appropriate plant, plant part, and possibly also as signals which help to control the amount of intake.
从扁桃斑鸠菊（菊科）中分离出了苦味成分及相关成分，在坦桑尼亚马哈勒山脉国家公园，野生黑猩猩有时会食用这种植物，它们会患上与寄生虫相关的疾病。这些分离出的成分包括已知的倍半萜内酯（斑鸠菊素、斑鸠菊内酯、羟基斑鸠菊内酯），以及新的豆甾烷型甾体糖苷（斑鸠菊苷A1 - A4：为苦味成分；斑鸠菊苷B1 - B3：为非苦味相关成分）。对这些成分进行的抗寄生虫活性测试，以及对主要活性成分斑鸠菊素和斑鸠菊苷B1的定量分析，支持了这样一种假设：马哈勒黑猩猩通过食用这种植物的髓部来控制与寄生虫相关的疾病，该植物髓部含有几种与甾体相关的成分。虽然主要的活性甾体相关成分（斑鸠菊苷B1及其主要苷元斑鸠菊醇B1）本身并无苦味，但据推测，包括斑鸠菊素在内的高苦味成分可能作为信号，引导食用者选择合适的植物、植物部位，也可能有助于控制摄入量。
