The effect of single administration of aflatoxin B1 and ACTH on the intensity of acid phosphatase reaction in bursa Fabricii and in periellipsoidal lymphatic tissue of the spleen of ducklings.

The experiments were carried out with Peking breed female ducklings which on their second day of life were administered into the crop a single dose of 1.5 micrograms of aflatoxin B1. On the 14th and 15th day from administration of aflatoxin B1 the ducklings were intravenously injected a single dose of ACTH at 1 i.u. per 100 g bodyweight. Disturbances in the ducklings, initiated by aflatoxin and then increased by ACTH, manifested themselves by a change in the intensity of acid phosphatase reaction in the lymphatic organs tested. The occurrence of differentiated APh reaction (but intensified differently as compared to that in control ducklings) within bursa Fabricii and in periellipsoidal lymphatic tissue of the spleen was the expression of unevenly changed reactivity of respective tissues in those organs due to the action of aflatoxin B1. These results seem to present an interesting starting point for further multidirectional experiments, first of all in the range of immunological reactivity in birds.