Spontaneous mycotoxic nephropathy in Bulgarian chickens with unclarified mycotoxin aetiology

Histopathological, biochemical and toxicological investigations of tissues and blood of normally slaughtered chickens exhibiting different frequencies (1-2%, 40-50% and above 80%) of nephropathy changes (congested or pale and enlarged kidneys) at the slaughtering meat inspection were carried out to elucidate the aetiology of nephropathies of chickens encountered in Bulgaria. A close relationship was observed between the frequency of this nephropathy and the rate of nephrotoxic mycotoxin ochratoxin A in muscles, kidneys and livers of chickens, but the levels of ochratoxin A in corresponding feed samples (0.1-0.3 ppm) were significantly lower than the levels (2-4 ppm) required to reproduce such nephropathy. Clinicomorphological changes such as nervous symptoms, vascular and oedematous changes in various internal organs and the brain, and subcutaneous or liver and kidney haemorrhages in addition to known degenerative changes in the kidneys, liver and lymphoid organs differed from the classical description of the nephropathy made in Scandinavia. The conclusion is that the Bulgarian chicken nephropathy may have a multitoxic aetiology because it cannot be explained by the concentration of ochratoxin A alone.