Effects of milk from goat fed Crotalaria spectabilis seeds on growing rats

Braz. j. vet. res. anim. sci; 36 (2), 1999
Publication year: 1999

Seeds of Crotalaria spectabilis, containing the pyrrolizidine alkaloid (PA) monocrotaline (MCT), were fed to a lactating dairy goat. Milk from this goat was fed to rats for 8 weeks to determine whether MCT or its toxic metabolites are transferred into the goat's milk. Rats from the experimental group showed significantly higher (p<0.05) serum levels of ALT, AST, GGT and LDH and less weight gains (p<0.05) than control rats. The most significant lesions in rats consuming the experimental ration were mild to moderate interstitial pneumonia and a vacuolar degeneration and occasionally necrosis of periportal hepatocytes. The results of this study indicate that the PA and/or its metabolites are eliminated in milk

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