title: Evaluation of toxicological impacts on Sprague-Dawley rat by successively low dose of aflatoxin B1.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Aflatoxins (AFs) are a group of potent mycotoxins that frequently pollute agro-products and animal feeds. For complex reasons, the regulatory limits of AFs differ from nation to nation. In this study, feedstuffs contaminated with various concentrations of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) corresponding to AF regulatory limits of major agro-product importing and exporting nations were tested in Sprague-Dawley rats, and the toxicological results were evaluated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  During the trial period, no poisoning behavior was observed and no animals died. No significant differences in body weight were observed between AFB1-contaminated and control rats. However, various negative impacts on liver and kidney functions were observed in AFB1-contaminated groups, and these negative impacts were positively correlated with AFB1 concentrations. At concentrations of 4-50 µg kg(-1) , AFB1 tolerance was observed for the liver after 15 days of testing, but this tolerance was not observed for the kidney.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Low concentrations of AFB1 still induced obvious toxicological impacts on Sprague-Dawley rats, and the negative effects were aggravated by increasing the AFB1 dose and feeding time. Therefore strict AF regulatory limits are suggested for food safety administration, especially for the low-income nations with higher hepatitis B virus prevalence.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory Breeding Base for Zhejiang Sustainable Plant Pest Control, Zhejiang Province Key Laboratory for Food Safety, Institute of Quality and Standard for Agro-products, Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hangzhou, 310021, China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.forename: Rui
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Liang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: He
authors.forename: Xu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Xiaofeng
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Ji
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhou
mesh_terms: D016604:Aflatoxin B1 / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000633:toxicity*; D000818:Animals; D056486:Chemical and Drug Induced Liver Injury; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D005506:Food Contamination; D007674:Kidney Diseases / Q000139:chemically induced*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley
chemical_list: D016604:Aflatoxin B1
keywords: aflatoxins; kidney function; liver function; regulatory limits; toxicological impacts