Effects of Aflatoxin B1 and Poor-Protein Diet In Hamsters Infected with Opisthorchis viverrini

ABSTRACT

Forty-two  male Syrian Golden hamsters, maintained on a 5.3% protein diet, were experimentally infected with 50 metacercarine of Opisthorchis viverrini. An oral dose of 0.05 mg aflatoxin B1 was then administered to each animal once weekly for 12 weeks and the low protein diet further maintained for a subsequent period of 6 months. Histopathological examination of the livers revealed bile ductular proliferation, dilatation of larger bile ducts with granuloma formation and pseudopapillary epithelial proligeration associated with nuclear pleomorphism, hyperchromicity and pasudostratifica tion of the lining columnar cells. Atypia of hepatocytes  was pronounced within the hepatic lobules in 64% of the hamsters. Some livers also had focal hyperplasia of Kupffer cells and parenchymal architectural alteration due to fibrous tissue proliferation within the hepatic parenchyma and around portal areas. The epidemiology of primary hepatic epithelial tumours in Thailand is discussed with particular reference to the contributory roles of endemic liver fluke infestation , low-protein diet and widespread contamination of food by aflatoxin.