2). Multifocal necrosis and inflammatory polymorphonuclear cell infiltration were observed in the mucosa of the abomasum. The liver showed marked swelling of hepatocytes, hepatocellular vacuolization, individual, randomly scattered foci of hepatocellular necrosis (Fig. 3), and mild biliary

retention. In the kidneys, the alterations were mild and consisted of tubular epithelial necrosis with occasional deposits of eosinophilic material within the renal tubules. Congestion, diffuse necrosis of the endometrium and an endometrial ERK inhibitor screening library infiltrate of polymorphonuclear cells were the main histological findings in the uterus of goat 2. The aborted fetuses had undergone autolysis; gross and histologic lesions were not observed. The clinical signs and pathology of the digestive system and liver observed in the goats poisoned with S. PLX4032 cell line fissuratum are similar to those previously reported in spontaneous and experimental poisonings with this plant

( Ferreira et al., 2009). Additionally, these experiments demonstrate that the pods of the plant cause abortion in goats and that the plant should be considered as a cause of abortion in cattle in the Central-West Region of Brazil, as has been suggested by farmers in Mato Grosso do Sul (Ricardo Lemos, unpublished data). Nevertheless, abortions occurred only in goats that ingested the plant in two and three daily doses; all of these goats showed clinical signs of poisoning. Goats 5 and 6, which were treated with only one dose of pods, showed mild clinical signs, but did not abort. These results suggest that in natural poisoning, the toxin contained in S. fissuratum pods affects both the mother and the fetus and that abortion occurs by fetal death, even with maternal survival, as was observed in goats 3

and 4. Retained placenta (as observed in goat Histamine H2 receptor 2) and endometrial bacterial infection may be aggravating factors in S. fissuratum toxicosis. Triterpenoid saponins have been isolated from S. fissuratum pods ( Haraguchi et al., 2006 and Yokosuka et al., 2008). Saponins have also been identified in plants that cause diseases similar to Stryphnodendron fussuratum toxicosis, including S. coriaceum ( Tursch et al., 1963), E. contortisiliqqum ( Mimaki et al., 2003 and Mimaki et al., 2004) and E. gummiferum ( Carvalho, 1981). Triterpenoid saponins isolated from S. fissuratum pods have not yet been evaluated for toxic properties, but similar saponins isolated from E. gummiferum ( Carvalho et al., 2006) are pathogenic in guinea pigs ( Bonel-Raposo et al., 2008). Of the several bisdesmosidic triterpene saponins identified in E. contortisiliquum, enterolosaponin A and contortisilioside B are toxic to macrophages, and contortisilioside A and C are toxic to macrophages and murine lymphoma cells ( Mimaki et al., 2003 and Mimaki et al., 2004). Those findings suggest that the digestive signs, liver disease, and abortion caused by Stryphnodendrom spp. and Enterolobium spp. are caused by the saponins contained in these species.