Protective Effect of Cycloheximide on Acute Aflatoxin B 1 Intoxication

Summary

The protective effect of CHI on the acute toxicity of AFB at nonlethal and lethal doses on rat liver was monitored by determining serum activities of LDH, GOT, GPT, and ALP and the content of protein, DNA, and RNA. At 2 hr after AFB administration, there were no indications of hepatic damage revealed by biochemical as well as histological studies. At 16 hr after AFB dosing, serum LDH, GOT, and GPT activities increased with increasing doses. Liver weight and RNA content showed significant decreases when a lethal dose of AFB was used. When CHI was given 24 hr prior to the administration of AFB, the elevated levels of serum LDH, GOT, and GPT caused by nonlethal doses of AFB were prevented. The decreases of liver weight and RNA content caused by the lethal dose were also prevented. These results indicate that since CHI protects against acute toxicity caused by nonlethal doses of AFB it may be used to study the relationship between acute liver injury and hepatocar-cinogenesis.

The authors would like to express their appreciation to Dr. H. Chiang for the histopathological evaluations of the tissue preparations and Professor W. K. Ting and his staff for the use of the Technicon autoanalyzer. The authors also wish to express their gratitude to Dr. Thomas M. Devlin for his advice during the preparation of this manuscript.