STUDIES ONSTACHYBOTRYS ALTERNANS

Abstract

Low doses of stachybotrys toxin were administered per os to groups of mice in early pregnancy. The toxic material was given either in the form of infected grain, liquid growth medium or partly purified toxin preparation. The administration took place mostly either as a single dose on the 3rd or 5th day of pregnancy or during a five-day period in the feed. The toxin amounts administered varied from 3 to 4000 tissue culture units (TCU), measured by the mouse fibroblast tissue culture test. The proportion of pregnant mice in all toxin treated groups was 70.7 per cent and that in the control group was 90.5 per cent. The difference is statistically significant. Statistically significant differences were also demonstrated in the frequency of dead, resorbed and stunted foetuses and in the average litter size of live normal foetuses between the control group and the groups administered 100–4000 TCU of the stachybotrys toxin. The results thus provide experimental evidence that stachybotrys toxin can affect detrimentally foetuses in doses low enough not to cause any definite clinical signs of illness in pregnant females. The histopathological study revealed uteroplacental haemorrhages in toxin treated animals. This finding may be indicative of the mechanism of action by toxin.