| Sumario: | Tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea) is a perennial grass widely used like forage, mainly due to the adaptability to many soils conditions, weather, high persistence and great food quality. Frequently, it is infected with the endophytic fungus Neotyphodium coenophialum. This mutualistic relationship produces to grass a greater resistance to environmental stress, growth increase and protection against herbivory. The latter has been attributed to the grass-endophyte capability to biosynthesize alkaloids, such as, ergot alkaloids, lolitrems, peramine and loline alkaloids. Nowadays, the information about the metabolism and presence of these alkaloids in animal tissues is scarce. In this communication, we evaluated the loline alkaloid presence in serum, urine and feces of Hereford-Angus steers fed with tall fescue N. coenophialum-infected by (E+). Two steers were fed on tall fescue pasture (E+) and endophyte free tall fescue pasture (E-), respectively. Tall fescue (E+) and (E-) were sampled at the beginning to field essay. Blood, urine and feces were sampled twenty days after. The alkaloid extracts from samples were obtained by acid-base extraction and the loline alkaloids presence evaluated using GC/MS. The identification was performed by the analyses of fragmentation pattern from mass spectrum additionally to Nformylloline (NFL) and N-acetylloline (NAL) standards injection. Accordingly, NFL and NAL were present in tall fescue (E+) alkaloid extract. Loline, NAL and N-methylloline (NML) were in urine (E+) extract, been loline the major alkaloid. Feces extract (E+) was not containing lolines. Blood serum (E+) extract showed a single loline alkaloid, unknown to date, also observed in urine (E+) extract. Nevertheless, its fragmentation pattern presented the characteristically loline alkaloids fragments with a different molecular ion. Finally, loline alkaloids were present neither in tall fescue (E-), nor serum, urine and feces extracts from steers (E-). The metabolic transformations to NFL and NAL will be discussed.
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