Abstract
THE original objective of this study was the preparation of milligram quantities of aflatoxin M1. Holzapfel et al.1 and Masri et al.2 had collected sufficient quantities of the toxin from the urine of sheep which had eaten food containing aflatoxin B1 for structural studies. We administered an exploratory dose of 4 mg of aflatoxin B1/kg, a conservative value compared with a reported single dose LD50 of approximately 500 mg/kg (ref. 3). This was lethal to our wether. In subsequent correspondence Purchase advised that an (intraperitoneal) dose of 2 mg/kg had killed a Merino sheep, and Masri noted that a repeated oral dose of 0.38 mg/kg per day for seven days was lethal to both a Hampshire ewe and a crossbred western whiteface wether. If the toxin is to be given over a period of time, a sublethal dose must be used. We undertook a toxicological study to satisfy this requirement and now report the results of our LD50 study.
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References
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Masri, M. S., Lundin, R. E., Page, J. R., and Garcia, V. C., Nature, 215, 753 (1967).
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ARMBRECHT, B., SHALKOP, W., ROLLINS, L. et al. Acute Toxicity of Aflatoxin B1in Wethers. Nature 225, 1062–1063 (1970). https://doi.org/10.1038/2251062a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/2251062a0
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