Aflatoxin toxicology

Acute Toxicology of Aflatoxins

As a public health hazard, the major routes for aflatoxin exposure is inhalation, especially of grain dusts, and ingestion as a result of eating food made with contaminated grains. However, the most likely weapons use of aflatoxins would be as an aerosol and there are no significant studies of the inhalation toxicology of aflatoxin in the open literature.

The primary target of aflatoxin intoxication is the liver and most studies have focused on their effects on the liver (their hepatotoxicity). This is a complex phenomenon that can be affected by age, sex, diet and other factors. There are even fairly large differences in sensitivity between closely related species (cf. rat and mouse).

The data below are summaries of the most widely quoted toxicity studies.

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Acute Toxicology of Aflatoxin B1
Species	Strain	Sex	Age or weight	Route of administration	LD₅₀ (mg/kg)	Acute necrosis, hemorrhage	Bile duct hyperplasia	Regeneration nodules
						Liver Lesions
Duck	Khaki-Campbell	M,F	1 day	Oral	0.36	+	+	+
	Pekin	M,F	1 day	Oral	0.34	+	+	+
Chicken		M	21 days	Oral	18.0	+	`±`	-
Turkey	Beltsville	M	15 days	Oral	3.2	+	+	-
Trout	Mount Shasta	M,F	9 months	Intraperitoneal	0.81	+	+	+
Catfish	Channel	M,F	9.3-9.5 kg	Oral	11.5	+	+	-
Mouse	Swiss	M,F	newborn	Oral	1.5	±	-	-
	CD-1	M	weanling	Oral	7.3	+	-	-
Rat	Porton	M	42 days	Oral	6.25	+	+	+
	Porton	F	42 days	Oral	18.00	+	+	+
	Fischer	M	42 days	Intraperitoneal	4.2	+	+	+
Hamster	Syrian	F	42 days	Intraperitoneal	5.85	+	+	+
	Syrian	M	30 days	Oral	12.8	+	-	-
Guinea pig		M	56 days	Oral	1.0	+	-	-
		F	56 days	Oral	1.8	+	-	-
Rabbit	Dutch	M,F	90 days	Intraperitoneal	0.3	+	-	-
Cat	mixed breed	M,F	adult	Oral	0.55	+	-	-
Dog	mixed breed	M,F	weanling	Oral	0.8	+	+	+
Pig	Poland China	M	weanling	Oral	0.62	+	+	+
Sheep	Cross breed	M	2 years	Oral	2.00	+	-	-
Baboon	wild	M	adult	Oral	2.2	+	-	-
Cynomolgus monkey		M	adult	Oral	2.2	+	+	+
Macaque		M	adult	Oral	8.0	+	+	-

Acute Toxicity of Naturally Occurring Aflatoxins
Species	Strain	Sex	Route	Weight (g)	Aflatoxin B1	Aflatoxin B2	Aflatoxin G1	Aflatoxin G2
					LD₅₀ (mg/kg)
Duck	Pekin	M	Intraperitoneal	50	0.73	1.76	1.18	2.83
Duck	Khaki-Campbell	-	Oral	50	0.36	0.78	1.70	3.44
Rat	Fischer	M	Oral	200	1.16	>200	1.5-2.0	>200

References:
Data in these tables compiled from:

Acute Hepatotoxicity of Aflatoxins John M. Cullen and Paul M. Newberne	Biochemical Mechanisms and Biological Implications of the Toxicity of Aflatoxins as Related to Aflatoxin Carcinogenesis. Bill D. Roebuck and Yulia Y. Maxuitenko
in The Toxicology of Aflatoxins (edited by David L. Eaton and John D. Groopman) Academic Press, Inc. (1994)	in The Toxicology of Aflatoxins (edited by David L. Eaton and John D. Groopman) Academic Press, Inc. (1994)

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Acute Toxicology of Aflatoxins

Acute Toxicology of Aflatoxin B1

Acute Toxicity of Naturally Occurring Aflatoxins