Dried gound potato sprout preparations from seven varieties produced congenital deformities in one strain of hamsters. Incidence of affected litters varied from 8 to 25%, depending on potato variety. Certain steroidal solanum and veratrum alkaloids produced similar defects. Neither peel nor tuber material was teratogenic from one of the potato varieties with highly teratogenic sprouts.
The sporulation of Alternaria solani was significantly affected by both fluorescent illumination and temperature. As temperature was reduced light became less of a factor. At 10C there was no significant difference between the effect of 16 h of light plus 8 h of darkness and of 8 h of light plus 16 h of darkness, on sporulation. At 25C, the greatest amount of sporulation occurred under continuous light. However, cultures of A. solani grown at 20C with 16 h of light plus 8 h of darkness produced the greatest number of spores. Isolates of A. solani obtained from Idaho and Maine responded to subjected treatments in a common manner.
Lesions of hamster fetal neuraxial tissues, characterized by multifocal and coalescent zones of hemorrhage, edema, and necrosis in the cerebral mantle, brainstem, and spinal cord, were observed in experiments designed to test the teratogenicity of potato preparations. Retrospective and prospective data indicated, however, that the potato preparations were not responsible but that the disease occurred spontaneously in the colony and was associated with direct breeding contact of virgin females with certain males. Observations suggest that an infectious agent may be responsible, but no agent was recovered. Immunofluorescence assay of inoculated cultures indicated that reovirus was not present in affected fetal tissues.
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