Orellanine

Although there is no known antidote against orellanine poisoning, early hospitalization can sometimes prevent serious injury and usually prevent death. Research is ongoing. Some treatments make use of anti-oxidant therapy and corticosteroids to help victims recover from their renal failure. (L998)

The symptoms are followed by early stages of renal failure (immense thirst, frequent urination, pain on and around the kidneys) and eventually decreased or nonexistent urine output and other symptoms of renal failure occur. If left untreated death will follow. (L998)

Bipyridines with charged nitrogen atoms confound important redox reactions in organisms, ‘stealing’ one or two electrons and sometimes bypass the electrons into other and often undesirable redox reactions. The terminal product can be peroxide or superoxide ions, the latter of which is harmful to the cells, especially kidney cells. (L998)

In humans, a characteristic of poisoning by the nephrotoxin orellanine is the long latency; the first symptoms usually do not appear until 2–3 days after ingestion and can in some cases take as long as 3 weeks. The first symptoms of orellanine poisoning are similar to the common flu (nausea, vomiting, stomach pains, headaches, myalgia, etc) (L998)