Calcinogenic factor in Solanum malacoxylon: evidence that it is 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3-glycoside.

After glycosidic cleavage of the water-soluble vitamin D-like principle of the calcinogenic plant Solanum malacoxylon, the active lipophilic portion was purified by column chromatography and analyzed by combined gas chromatography and mass spectrometry. It was identified as 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3, the active form of vitamin D. Thus this active metabolite of vitamin D exists in the plant world, and its presence probably accounts for pathologic calcification in grazing animals ingesting Solanum malacoxylon.