Background: Aflatoxins, highly toxic compounds produced by
species of Aspergillus Flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus, are
known for their hepatonephric toxicity. There are no published
randomized controlled trials evaluating the effect of aflatoxin
exposure during pregnancy. Aim of the work: The current
study aims to evaluate the effect of AFB1 on hepatorenal
structure of pregnant mice. Methods: Female mice were daily fed on fodder contaminated with 5, 10 or 20 μg AFB1 seven days before mating and during pregnancy. Liver and kidney specimens were processed for histopathological and histomorphometric investigations. Results: 5 μg AFB1 treatments resulted in hepatonecrosis, inflammatory cells infiltration, vascular congestion and interstitial edema. 10 μg AFB1 group exerted hydropic and ballooning degeneration of hepatic cells, increased nuclear chromatin content, presence of trinucleated cells, dilation of blood sinusoids and areas of necrosis. In liver, 20 μg AFB1 group revealed marked vascular congestion and binucleated cells, with variable sized nuclei anisonucleosis and interstitial edema. Liver histomorphometry analyses revealed significant alterations in the central vein, nuclear and cytoplasmic area. Kidney treated with 5 μg AFB1 showed glomerular hypertrophy, tubular necrosis, congestion and Bowmn's space increase. Kidney treated with 10 μg AFB1 exhibited necrosis, damage in corpuscles & renal cast. Examination of kidney treated with 20 μg AFB1 revealed hemorrhage, necrosis, renal cast and glomerular hypertrophy. Kidney histomorphometry analyses revealed significant alterations in Bowman’s space, glomerular and corpuscle areas. Conclusion: AFB1 exerted hepatonephrotoxic negative impact in pregnant mice fed on contaminated fodder and caused many histopathological and histomorphometric alterations including necrosis, hydropic degeneration, edema, hemorrhage, blood congestion reflecting high risk toxicity of AFB1. It is suggested that accumulation of bioactivated AFB1 metabolites severely induced hepatonephrotoxicity in pregnant mice. Further studies are recommended.

Background: Aflatoxins are harmful mycotoxins. Among the various types
of aflatoxins, aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) is the predominant form with the most
toxic effect. AFB1 is produced by Aspergillus, which usually contaminates a
wide range of agricultural products, such as grain, nuts, or spices. The
problem of aflatoxin contamination of the food products is a common
problem in tropical and subtropical regions of the world, especially in the
developing countries where the environmental conditions of warm
temperatures and humidity favor the growth of fungi. AFB1 is known to
interfere with embryonic development. Aim of the work is to evaluate the effect of AFB1 on pregnant mice and their offspring. Methods: 40 pregnant female mice were divided into groups and fed fodder contaminated with 5, 10 and 20 μg AFB1 / kg of fodder. Administration started ten days before mating and continued during the whole period of pregnancy. Treated mothers and offspring were morphologically examined and weighed daily. Results: The treated mothers showed body weight loss, in utero embryo resorption, reduced pregnancy percentage (90.9% and 83.3%), and low number of embryos per mother (3.53, 5.18 & 5.42 compared to 8.23 in controls). Mortality percentage increased (3.77, 5.26 & 16.92 compared to 2% in control). Neonatal infants exhibited insignificant reduction in body weight and altered morphometric measurements including crown rump and head circumference, ear pinna, tail length fore and hind limb lengths, which were significantly reduced. 21 postnatal day-old infant restored normal body weight. Exposed mothers showed aggressive agonistic behavior and cannibalism. Conclusion: AFB1 has a negative impact on embryonic development, altered and reduced infant morphological parameters. 21 postnatal day-old infant restoration of normal weight might be attributed to early disappearance of AFB1 from mothers’ milk. AFB1 induced cognitive neurotoxicity leading to aggression. Further studies are recommended.

Background: One of vitamin A metabolites is Retinoic Acid (RA). Its signaling pathway during embryonic development regulates formation of germ layers, neurogenesis, body axis establishment and morphogenesis of the optic cup, lung, and pancreas. Its function during embryonic and post hatching growth is achieved by activating gene transcription through interactions with its receptors. Citral is a major component of essential oils extracted from several herbs. It blocks endogenous RA signaling pathway by inhibiting oxidation of retinal to RA. Aim of the work: The present work aimed to investigate the effects of exogenous RA and citral on morphdevelopmental abnormalities in ovo in the Japanese quail, Coturnix coturnix japonica, across early and late developmental stages. Methods: 445 fertilized eggs of the Japanese quail were divided into control and three groups of DMSO, RA, and citral injected before incubation and three other groups injected on the eighth day of incubation. Embryos at 7, 9, 13 days, and hatching day were collected and examined for morphology & mortality. Morphometric measurements were carried out and statistically analyzed on hatching day. Results: Both RA or citral treatments resulted in several abnormalities including anencephaly (absence of skull), anophthalmia and microphthalmia, scoliosis, wry neck, hernia, absence of feathers, and deformed limbs. RA group exhibits the highest mortality rate in case of injection before incubation. Injection on the eighth day results in the highest mortality rate in citral group. Weight, crown-rump length, head length, head circumference and head height in all groups are compared with control. Conclusion: This research shows that exogenous RA or citral treatment, affects the level of endogenous RA, and induces teratogenic effects in quail development leading to several malformations. Embryonic response to RA is highly sensitive and depends on developmental stage. Also, RA level needed for healthy embryonic growth is disturbed by citral. Embryos were more sensitive in the early embryonic stages, with mortality rate, while more resistant and survived more at late developmental stages with malformations.

This paper is aimed at proposing a method for the first-time to calculate the resistance-to-ground of a GEM-encased vertical-rod buried in a homogeneous high resistivity soil. The calculation method is based on the current sphere simulation technique along with the concept of images. The current discharged from the rod into the surrounding GEM is simulated by current spheres, whose diameter is the same as that of the rod. The current through the interface separating the GEM from soil is simulated by two sets of equal number of current spheres. Satisfaction of Dirichlet boundary condition at boundary points on the rod surface and normal current-density continuity along with potential equality boundary conditions at boundary points on the interface formulates a set of equations, whose solution determines the currents of simulation-spheres. The sum of sphere-currents simulating the rod is the current discharged from rod for evaluating ground resistance. The calculated ground resistance after nine weeks for a rod encased in GEM of resistivity $3.39\Omega .m$ and soil with resistivity $1678\Omega .m$ records a $47.86\%$ reduction compared to the resistance without GEM. On the other hand, the COMSOL and the experiment predict $44.61\%$ and $49.75\%$ reduction in the ground resistance, respectively.