Embryonic exposure to aflatoxin-B1: mutagenicity and influence on development and immunity

Chick embryos were mutagenized in ovo in order to study developmentally related alterations in immune functions in survivors of this prenatal toxicant insult. In this experimental system, a single exposure of 6-day chick embryos to 0.1 microgram aflatoxin-B1 (AF-B1) in 10 microliters of acetone was employed, and the control embryos received 10 microliters of solvent alone. This dosage of AF-B1 administered to 6-day embryos was found to increase the incidence of sister chromatid exchanges in blood cells approximately fivefold above the baseline observed in solvent controls. A second sham control, where no solvent was administered, was included in some experiments. The cell cycle times in blood increased slightly during the initial exposure to AF-B1. However, a majority of the AF-B1 and acetone exposed embryos survived and hatched without incident. Losses occurred mainly in the latter part of embryogenesis. After hatching, no significant differences were observed in body weight between different treatment groups up to 26 weeks of age and no change in primary humoral immunity was detected. In contrast, two parameters of cell-mediated immunity, graft vs host (GvH), and cutaneous basophil hypersensitivity (CBH) reactions were both depressed as a result of exposure to AF-B1. The AF-B1 treatment group was significantly reduced in the GvH reaction compared with sham-treated controls. In the CBH assay, AF-B1-exposed chicks showed reduced immunity compared with acetone controls. These results suggest that long-term selective immune depression can occur following embryonic exposure to AF-B1.