Chronic toxicity of charred fish meat in Wistar rats

An experiment was performed on Wistar rats to examine the possible carcinogenic effects of charred fish meat. Each group (of 30 male rats each) was fed one of the following diets: the standard diet mixed with 50% charred fish meat (Group 1), the standard diet mixed with 25% charred fish meat (Group 2), the standard diet alone (Group 3), or the 1-methyl-3-nitro-1-nitrosoguanidine (MNNG) treatment in drinking water (Group 4); this last group served as positive control. The animals were observed for two years. No significant incidences of tumors were recorded. However, there were statistically significant incidences of nonspecific pathological lesions of the glandular stomach, such as erosion, regeneration, and hyperplastic epithelium. Also, an atypical epithelium of the stomach was found incidentally in two animals (Groups 1 and 2); this might suggest a premalignant condition.