Fun with Fungi!!!
Fungi are among the most widely distributed organisms on Earth and are of great environmental and medical importance. Many fungi are free-living in soil or water; others form parasitic or symbiotic relationships with plants or animals. In this lab, we made five different observations of fungi.
Coprinopsis atramentaria : commonly known as the common ink cap or inky cap, is an edible mushroom found in Europe and North America. It can be eaten but is poisonous when consumed with alcohol – hence another common name, tippler's bane.
Consuming Coprinopsis atramentaria within a few hours of alcohol results in a "disulfiram syndrome". This interaction has only been known since the early part of the twentieth century. Symptoms include facial reddening, nausea, vomiting, malaise, agitation, palpitations and tingling in limbs, and arise five to ten minutes after consumption of alcohol. If no more alcohol is consumed, they will generally subside over two or three hours. Symptom severity is proportional to the amount of alcohol consumed, becoming evident when blood alcohol concentration reaches 5 mg/dl, and prominent at concentrations of 50–100 mg/dl. Disulfiram has, however, been known to cause myocardial infarction (heart attack). The symptoms can occur if even a small amount of alcohol is consumed up to three days after eating the mushrooms, although they are milder as more time passes.Rarely, a cardiac arrhythmia, such as atrial fibrillation on top of supraventricular tachycardia, may develop.Because of these effects, in some cases, the mushroom has been used to cure alcoholism.
