[Toxicology of epidithio-dioxopiperazines. 1. Studies on toxicity of cyclosarcosylsarcosineepitetrasulfide in guinea pigs and rats].

The present paper deals with the toxic effect of a mycotoxin of the group of epidithio-dioxopiperazines: cyclo-sarcosyl-sarcosin-epitetrasulfide, particularly upon the liver of guinea-pigs and rats. The sporidesmines, related to the compound tested, cause chronic obstructive cholangitis characteristic of a disease in sheep endemic in New Zealand. This type of cholangitis was attempted to be reproduced in order to establish an experimental model of producing biliary cirrhosis in animals. The acute and subacute LD50 in rats and guinea-pigs were determined intraperitoneally and intragastrally. In neither mode of application nor in short-term nor in chronic test could we find any specific, dose dependent changes of bile ducts. Merely, parenteral administration of lethal doses led to unspecific subcapsular liver necroses obviously due to direct diffusion of the toxic agent. The discrepancy between the efficacy of the toxic grass in New Zealand and the substance tested in the study is discussed.