An examination of the effect of pretreatment of rats with Sacoglottis gabonensis bark extract, a Nigerian palmwine additive, and ethanol on macromolecular binding of aflatoxin B1.

In a previous study (Okoye and Neal, Food and Chemical Toxicology 1988, 26, 679) enhanced ethanol-induced reductions in albumin-bound and unbound serum aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) and increased hepatic DNA-AFB1 binding were observed in rats treated with bark extract of Sacoglottis gabonensis, a Nigerian palmwine additive. The present study was designed to examine further the mechanism of these effects. Male weanling rats were pretreated with the bark extract or ethanol, or both, in drinking-water (at three times the levels used in the previous study) for 8 days before the ip administration of a single dose of [3H]AFB1. [In the previous study the rats were fed all three compounds simultaneously.] In contrast to the results of the previous study, when both the additive and ethanol were administered, there were no significant effects on [3H]AFB1 binding to liver or serum albumin or liver DNA. The levels of DNA-bound aflatoxin were reduced in rats given the additive or ethanol alone.