Action of aflatoxin B1 on pregnant rats.

The hepatotoxic effect of aflatoxin B1 on pregnant rats was studied by injecting the animals in the first 14 days of pregnancy with doses equivalent ot 1/1,000 ppm; the rats were killed at the end of pregnancy. Liver lesions such as clear intumescence, granular dystrophy, Kupffer cell hyperplasia, pycnosis and atypical mitoses were shown; concomitantly regeneration phenomena were expressed by an increased incidence of binucleated cells and mitosis. Fertility decreased after aflatoxin and embryonary resorptions, malformations and developmental retardations occurred.