Day-old broiler chickens fed graded concentrations of ochratoxin A (0, .5, 1.0, 2.0, 4.0, and 8.0 micrograms/g of diet) for 3 weeks were examined histopathologically for glycogen accumulation in muscle tissue using both formalin and ethanol fixatives with periodic acid-Schiff stain in a duplicate diastatic slide technique. However, glycogen could not be visualized in chicken muscle by these techniques which work with human muscle. Quantitative analysis for the glycogen itself permitted demonstration of a significant (P less than .05) fourfold increase in birds fed 8 micrograms/g. Using startled birds demonstrated that this accumulated glycogen was about 99% physiologically available. These findings coupled with prior reports permit the assignment on morphologic criteria of the hyperglycogenation of ochratoxicosis as a type X glycogen storage disease.

Graded concentrations of dietary ochratoxin (0, 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, 4.0, and 8.0 microgram/g) and aflatoxin (0, 0.625, 1.25, 2.5, 5.0, and 10.0 microgram/g) were fed to broiler chicks from hatching to 3 weeks of age. The breaking strength of the large intestines was decreased significantly (P < 0.05) by ochratoxin (2, 4, and 8 microgram/g), but not by aflatoxin. This fragility was accompanied by an increase in the weight of the large intestine relative to body weight of birds fed ochratoxin (4.0 and 8.0 microgram/g), whereas aflatoxin had no significant (P < 0.05) effect on this parameter. Lipid content of the large intestine was decreased significantly (P < 0.05) by aflatoxin (10.0 microgram/g) and increased by ochratoxin (8.0 microgram/g). Microscopic examination of cross sections of large intestines stained for collagen gave the impression of a great decrease in collagen content of birds fed ochratoxin, but not aflatoxin. The radial length of the collagenous longitudinal folds of the large intestine was decreased significantly (P < 0.05) by ochratoxin (2.0, 4.0, and 8.0 microgram/g). These observations, plus a field case characterized by intestinal ruptures causing carcass condemnations on the processing line and by the occurrence of aflatoxin and ochratoxin in the chicken feed, suggest a novel way in which mycotoxins cause economic loss to agriculture.

Ochratoxin A at 8 jig per g of diet, but not at lower doses, fed to chickens from 1 day to 3 weeks of age resulted in significantly (P < 0.05) decreased packed blood cell volume and hemoglobin concentration without altering the number of circulating erythrocytes. Serum iron and percentage of transferrin saturation were lowered at 4 and 8 ,ug/g. Therefore, anemia was characteristic of severe ochratox

Graded doses of ochratoxin A incorporated into the diet (0, 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, 4.0, and 8.0 ,ug/g) of broiler chickens significantly (P < 0.05) inhibited activity of protein kinase, the initiator enzyme of the glycogen phosphorylase system, in the livers at all dose levels. Only the highest dose, 8.0,tg/g, significantly reduced the total activity of phosphorylase kinase, which is activated by protein kinase. The total activity of phosphorylase, which is activated by phosphorylase kinase, was unal

A 64-year-old man presented with a two-year history of a slowly enlarging nontender pruritic mass on his left thigh. Two years prior to evaluation he had noticed two small scaling psoriasiform patches on his inner left thigh, each approximately one half inch in diameter. Treatment with topical steroid therapy for psoriasis had no effect on these lesions, whereas other psoriatic lesions on the left middle aspect of his abdomen resolved with therapy. No biopsy specimen was taken from these lesions. Over the following year the two left thigh patches expanded and coalesced, Figure 1.Figure 2.Figure 3.Figure 4.forming an elevated ringlike tumor. This tumor quadrupled in size during the next year. The patient denied any pain or weight loss. He noted a small psoriasiform lesion on his left calf at the time of admission.Physical examination revealed an annular, fungating, violaceous, weeping tumor with several ulcerations, approximately 16 X 25 cm, on the left medial and posterior aspects of the thigh (Fig 1). A second tumor of identical appear¬ ance, approximately 4.5 X 7 cm, was on the medial aspect of the left popliteal fossa. Enlarged inguinal lymph nodes were palpated bilaterally. Bone scan, left hip and left leg roentgenograms, and computed tomographic (CT) scan of the left leg revealed no muscle or bone involvement by tumor. Chest roentgenogram and CT scan of the abdomen were normal, as were the results of the following studies: complete blood cell count, serum SMA-18 chemistry analy¬ sis, quantitative immunoglobulin studies, urinalysis, bone marrow biopsy, and Sézary cell preparation. A left inguinal node biopsy specimen showed dermatopathic lymphadeni¬ tis with marked plasmacytosis. Immunologie typing and immunoperoxidase studies of a skin biopsy specimen from the larger tumor demonstrated a polytypic population of lymphocytes, predominantly T helper cells. The tumor biopsy specimen is shown in Figs 2 through 4.