The anemia caused by aflatoxin

The effects of graded doses of dietary aflatoxin (0, 0.625, 1.25, 2.5, 5.0, and 10.0 mug./g.) on hemoglobin, packed blood cell volume, erythrocyte count, leucocyte counts, bone marrow lipid, and bone marrow nucleic acids of chickens were measured. The hemoglobin, packed cell volume, and erythrocyte count were reduced significantly (P less than 0.05) to about the same extent by any given dose. Microscopic examination of stained smears of the bone marrow revealed a hyperplastic response including the granulocytic elements. Chemical analyses of the marrow revealed a decreased lipid content and an increased content of ribonucleic acid and deoxyribonucleic acid. Total leucocytes were increased about three fold by aflatoxin (10 mug./g). Differential leucocyte counts revealed that the heterophils were increased while the eosinophils were unaffected and the basophils, lymphocytes, and monocytes were decreased. The increase in nucleic acids of the marrow and in circulating leucocytes occurred with doses which inhibit growth rate. These data suggest that aflatoxin causes a hemolytic anemia in chickens, that aflatoxin, by itself, is not involved in the hemorrhagic anemia syndrome of chickens, and that aflatoxin does not cause in chickens a general inhibition of ribonucleic acid and protein synthesis as assumed from studies on rats.