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Seven species of plants from the families Umbelliferae, Rutaceae, and Leguminosae known or suspected to cause photophytodermatitis were quantitatively analyzed for psoralen, 8-methoxypsoralen (8-MOP, xanthotoxin), and 5-methoxypsoralen (5-MOP, bergapten). The leaves of all species contained these coumarins, which were also found on the leaf surface, but both the concentrations and the proportions varied greatly. In the interior of the leaves the highest total was in Angelica archangelica, followed by Psoralea bituminosa, both of which are species with severe toxicity, and the lowest in Levisticum officinale (lovage). On the leaf surface, in contrast, the highest total was in P. bituminosa, followed by Pimpinella major. The sum of the surface concentrations, while low in absolute terms, was in some cases a substantial percentage (as high as 24%) of the total in the plant, although there was great variation among species. For individual coumarins this value was sometimes much higher, for example, 60... |
