The 146th Annual Meeting of the Pharmaceutical Society of Japan (Osaka)

Organizer: Daisuke Kobayashi (Health Sciences Univ. of Hokkaido), Miou Toda (NIHS), Masayuki Takahashi (Hokkaido Inst. Public Health)

This symposium addresses toxic plant-induced food poisoning and pharmaceutical sciences' contributions through information gathering, clinical response, and analytical technology. We overview nationwide case trends and fatal misidentification cases, underlining the importance of public awareness. We report findings on causes and the administrative measures based on the review of cases in each region, and consider preventative measures for the future. Clinical topics include symptom features, severity assessment, initial management, diagnostics, and antidotes. Analytical advances such as LC-MS/MS-based quantification of plant toxins are discussed, highlighting sensitive and selective methods. Research from discovery to mechanism clarification shows how toxicity studies advance pharmaceutical science. In the final general discussion, we will consider an effective outbreak prevention system that can be established through collaboration between the fields of information gathering, clinical response, and analytical technology, and share future research and practical challenges and directions for efforts. Throughout the course of the session, we will discuss the social role that the pharmaceutical field plays in preventing and dealing with health damage caused by poisonous plants, and the need for practical interdisciplinary collaboration.