Feeding studies in rats with mineral hydrocarbon food grade white oils.

This investigation compared the effects of feeding rats diets containing food grade white oil processed by either conventional oleum treatment or the more modern method of catalytic hydrogenation. In two separate experiments, male or female Fischer-344 rats were given free access for 90 days to diets containing 0, 10, 100, 500, 5,000, 10,000, or 20,000 ppm of either oleum-treated white oil (OTWO) or hydrotreated white oil (HTWO). There were no mortalities and no adverse clinical signs associated with feeding either white oil. Treatment-related effects evidenced by hematological, clinical chemical, and pathological changes were generally dose-related and more marked in female than in male rats, and the OTWO caused a greater pathological response than the HTWO. Tissue residues of saturated hydrocarbons were up to 5.2 times higher in female rats than in males. Rats fed 5,000 ppm or more of either white oil showed dose-related alterations in several hematological and clinical chemistry variates associated mainly with hepatic damage or functional alteration. At necropsy, mesenteric lymph nodes were enlarged, and increases in weight of liver, kidney, and spleen were significant. Microscopic changes were characterized by multifocal lipogranulomata in mesenteric lymph node and liver. No changes were observed in rats fed OTWO or HTWO for 90 days at dietary concentrations of 10 or 100 ppm, equivalent to a minimum intake of 0.65 and 6.4 mg/kg/day, respectively. Differences in degree of pathological response associated with each oil may have been due to their differences in specification rather than processing method.

Sebaceous gland suppression as a short-term test of the cutaneous carcinogenic activity of mineral oils.

Forty-seven mineral oils were tested for their ability to induce sebaceous gland suppression in female C3H/HeN or CF1 mice. Six groups of five mice were treated with zero, one, two, three, four or six epidermal applications of one or more of three volumes (0.2, 0.1 or 0.05 ml) of the test substance. The sebaceous gland suppression indices were calculated from the total numbers of sebaceous glands and hair follicles in nine sections of treated skin from each mouse. Suppression curves were drawn by plotting the mean suppression indices against the number of applications of each oil sample. The suppression curves were compared with the cutaneous carcinogenic potentials of these mineral oils, assessed by long-term skin bioassays. All the carcinogenic oil samples induced suppression of sebaceous glands. The non-carcinogenic samples had no significant suppressant activity. There was a correlation between cutaneous carcinogenic activity and suppressant potential for all tested samples. Results of the suppression tests considered, together with the kinematic viscosities of the test substances, enabled accurate prediction of their cutaneous carcinogenic potential.

Two-year carcinogenicity study on three aromatic epoxy resins applied cutaneously to CF1 mice.

The cutaneous and systemic carcinogenic potentials of pure and two technical diglycidyl ethers of bisphenol A, DGEBPA, EPON 828 and EPIKOTE 828, respectively, have been investigated in six groups each of 50 male and 50 female CF1 mice. Twice weekly over a period of 2 yr, 0.2 ml of a 1 or 10% (w/v) solution of one of the epoxy resins in acetone was applied to the dorsal skin. A group of 50 male and 50 female CF1 mice was similarly treated treated with 2% (w/v) beta-propiolactone in acetone (the positive control) while a group of 100 male and 100 female mice was treated with acetone alone (negative control). Survival of the CF1 mice to 2 yr was unaffected by cutaneous exposure to each epoxy resin. The compounds proved to be mildly irritant to murine skin, the response in males being greater than in females. There was a very low incidence of benign and malignant tumours of the skin and subcutis after exposure to any of these compounds. The number of systemic lymphoreticular/haematopoietic tumours was increased only in females treated with EPIKOTE 828 or DGEBPA. In male mice, treated with 10% EPON 828, there was a slight increase in the number of renal tumours. The incidence of other systemic tumours in either sex was not increased following cutaneous application of the purified or the two technical DGEBPA resins (1 to 10% in acetone). The significance of all these findings is fully discussed.

Comparative study of the sensitivity of male and female rats to methylmercury.

Male and female rats were dosed daily by gastric gavage four or five times with 8.0 mg/kg Hg as methylmercury. Treatment lowered the body weight in relation to the body weight of untreated rats to the same extent in male and female rats but when body weight was related to the initial body weight, the effect of methylmercury was more pronounced in females than in males. The important of differences in growth or loss of body weight is that in spite of the similar whole body clearance mercury concentrations were higher in females than in males. After identical doses the brains of females always contained more mercury than those of males and in both sexes the brain concentration of mercury showed a disproportionate elevation when the number of doses was increased from four to five. However, weight change alone does not explain the sex related difference in the brain concentration of mercury as this was evident even 72 h after a single dose. In agreement with the brain concentration of mercury, female rats developed more intensive co-ordination disorders and after five doses they had more extensive damage in the granular layer of the cerebellum than males.

The effect of lactation on methylmercury intoxication.

Four days after parturition 17 weeks old rats of Porton Wistar strain were given 8 mg/kg mercury as methylmercury chloride for 5 days. Virgin females or mothers separated from their offspring immediately after delivery received the same treatment and served as controls. Compared with these controls, lactation delayed the onset of weight loss, shortened the time between the end of treatment and the onset of weight gain, accelerated the elimination of mercury from the whole body and prevented the development of severe co-ordination disorders. However, lactation had no detectable effect on the elimination of mercury from the brain. Moreover control and lactating females had the same degree of histological abnormalities both in the granular layer of the cerebellum and in the dorsal root ganglion cells.

Comparative study of the sensitivity of virgin and pregnant rats to methylmercury.

Pregnant and virgin female rats were dosed by gastric lavage 10 times or 5 times with 5 mg/kg mercury as methylmercury. Treatment of pregnant animals started on day 3 of gestation and ended on day 14 of gestation with two days break between the 5th and the 6th doses. In Group B, treatment lasted from day 10 to day 14 of gestation. Pregnant and virgin rats responded identically to methylmercury in terms of body weight changes, coordination disorders, and cerebellar histological changes. Furthermore, the brain, liver and kidney concentrations and the rates of methylmercury elimination in the post-treatment period were identical. Thus the results indicate no difference in sensitivity of pregnant versus non-pregnant animals.

Balkan (endemic) nephropathy.

The clinical and pathological features of Balkan (endemic) nephropathy are discussed and correlations of incidence with excess late summer and autumn rainfall outlined. Cultures of a strain of Penicillium verrucosum var. cyclopium isolated from maize collected in an endemic area were fed to rats and lesions were produced in the straight third segment of the proximal kidney tubules. Extensive degeneration and nuclear changes were seen and on prolonged feeding further nuclear enlargement (to greater than 6n) and the formation of multinucleate cells occurred. The relevance of these findings to the clinical disease in man, especially the occurrence of urinary tract tumours, and the evidence supporting mycotoxin involvement, are discussed.

An ultrastructural investigation of nephrotoxicity in rats induced by feeding cultures of Penicillium verrucosum var. cyclopium.

A renal tubular lesion was induced in male rats by giving them a culture homogenate or culture filtrate of Penicillium verrucosum var. cyclopium by gastric gavage for 20 days. The fungus was obtained from stored maize in an area of endemic nephropathy in Bulgaria. Changes in the proximal convoluted tubules were studied by light and electron microscopy. The lesion was confined to the pars recta in the outer stripe of the outer zone of the medulla. It consisted of degeneration and necrosis of epithelial cells, prominent karyomegaly, arrested mitotic divisions and production of binucleate and tetranucleate tubular cells. Two patterns of degeneration occurred with comparable frequency: a vesicular form with pyknotic nucleus and electron lucent degeneration. Nuclei of the epithelial cells in affected tubules contained segregated nucleoli. The necrotic cells were replaced by actively regenerating cells derived from adjacent viable epithelium. The similarity between the tubular lesions induced in rats and the changes found in patients with Balkan endemic nephropathy is discussed.

Balkan (endemic) nephropathy and a toxin-producing strain of Penicillium verrucosum var cyclopium: An experimental model in rats.

Cultures of an isolate of Penicillium verrucosum var. cyclopium, obtained from stored maize in an area of Balkan (endemic) nephropathy--Vratza, Bulgaria--has consistently induced renal tubular lesions when force-fed to rats for 20 days. The lesions, confined to the lower reaches of the proximal convoluted tublues (pars recta and junctional zone), closely resemble the tubular changes in patients with Balkan nephropathy. Preliminary evidence suggests that this nephrotoxin-producing strain of P. verrucosum var. cyclopium may be implicated in the aetiology of Balkan nephropathy.