Effect of aflatoxin on the humoral and cell-mediated immune systems of the chicken.
Chickens fed 2.5 microgram of aflatoxin/g of diet from 2 to 4 weeks of age or from hatching to 4 weeks were deficient in cell-mediated immunity, as measured at 4 weeks of age by the graft-versus-host reaction. Delayed-type hypersensitive skin reactions to tuberculin were also reduced in chickens given dietary aflatoxin from hatching to 7 weeks of age. Humoral immunity, as measured by the ability of 4-week-old chicks to produce natural agglutinins to rabbit red blood cells, was not significantly altered by dietary aflatoxin. A significant decrease in concentrations of serum immunoglobulins (Ig) IgG and IgA, but no IgM, however, did occur in chicks given dietary aflatoxin from hatching to 4 weeks or between 2 and 4 weeks of age. Aflatoxin consumption from 0 to 2 weeks of age produced no marked effect on either cell-mediated or humoral immunity in 4-week-old chicks.
D000348:Aflatoxins / Q000633:toxicity*; D000818:Animals; D000917:Antibody Formation; D002645:Chickens / Q000276:immunology*; D006087:Graft vs Host Reaction; D007111:Immunity, Cellular; D007070:Immunoglobulin A / Q000032:analysis; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000032:analysis; D008297:Male; D011201:Poultry Diseases / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000276:immunology; D012882:Skin Tests
D000348:Aflatoxins; D007070:Immunoglobulin A; D007074:Immunoglobulin G