SUB-ACUTE TOXICITY OF DIETARY T-2 TOXIN IN MICE - INFLUENCE OF PROTEIN NUTRITION

  • 1 January 1980
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 44  (2) , 219-228
Abstract
The subacute toxic effects of dietary T-2 toxin [from Fusarium] (20 ppm) incorporated in semipurified diets of 8%, 12% or 16% protein, were examined in young Swiss mice after 1, 2, 3 and 4 wk. Dietary T-2 toxin caused substantial reductions in growth and food consumption, the degrees of which were greatest in mice fed the diets of reduced protein content. T-2 toxin consistently caused similar degrees of nonregenerative anemia, lymphopenia, thymic atrophy and gastric hyperkeratosis irrespective of the dietary protein level. Erythroid hypoplasia was temporary in mice fed T-2 toxin in the 16%-protein diet such that erythroid precursors regenerated in splenic and bone marrow and were hyperplastic after 4 wk. Liver to body weight ratios of mice fed T-2 toxin in the 16%-and 12%-protein diets increased during the 4 wk trial in comparison to control mice fed at a similar rate. These observations indicated that suppression of erythropoiesis in mice by dietary T-2 toxin was temporary and that the interval before regeneration was prolonged by diets of reduced protein content.