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Effect of bracken (Pteridium a quilinum) and dryopteris (Dryopteris juxtaposita) fern toxicity in laboratory rabbits.

Experimental studies with Bracken and Dryopteris ferns @ 25% concentrate ration mixture were conducted in rabbits. Fern fed rabbits showed progressive anaemia, leukopaenia, lymphopaenia and relative heterophilia. Significant elevations in serum enzymes like serum glutamate oxaloactate transminase (SGOT), serum glutamate pyruvate transminase (SGPT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), urea and creatinine levels were seen. Histopathologically, rabbits showed mild to moderate vascular changes in most of visceral organs, vacuolar degenerative changes in hepatocytes, hypersecretory activity in intestine, presence of casts in renal tubules and degenerative changes in renal tubular lining epithelial cells. Dryopteris fed rabbits showed somewhat more severe degenerative and vascular changes in different intervals. A low level of toxic principle ptaquiloside was detected in Bracken and Dryopteris ferns by thin layer chromatography (TLC) and high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) methods.

Animals↗

Carcinogenicity of boiling water extract of bracken, Pteridium aquilinum.

Carcinogenicity of an aqueous extract of bracken was studied in inbred strain ACI rats. In Experiment 1, Group 1 rats received a diet containing unprocessed dry bracken powder for 3 months, Group 2 received the boiling water extract of dry bracken as drinking water for 16 months, Group 3 received the cold water extract of dry bracken as drinking water for 16 months, and Group 4 received a diet containing the concentrated boiling water extract of dry bracken during the whole experimental period. Rats in Experiment 2 also received a diet containing the boiling water extract of dry bracken. A control group was fed a normal diet. Majority of the animals in Group 1 developed multiple ileal tumors, such as adenomas and adenocarcinomas. In Group 2, 6 of 11 rats which survived beyond 7 months developed tumors in either the ileum or urinary bladder, or in both. Rats in Group 3 had no tumor. In Group 4 and in Experiment 2, all the animals except 1 rat in Experiment 2 had urinary bladder tumor. Furthermore, almost all the rats in these groups had simultaneously ileal tumors. Based on these results, it may be assumed that the carcinogen in bracken is extractable in boiling water and is most probably also water-soluble.

Adenocarcinoma↗

Quercetin, a rat intestinal and bladder carcinogen present in bracken fern (Pteridium aquilinum).

Albino noninbred weanling male and female rats were fed a basic grain diet (Group 1) or a basic diet supplemented with 33% bracken fern [BF (Group 2)] or 0.1% quercetin [purity, > 99% (Group 3)] for 58 weeks. The quantities of quercetin and kaempferol (a close structural analog) in BF as glycosides were determined to be 0.57 and 1.1 g, respectively, per kg of dried BF. Estimated mean total cumulative doses (mmol) per rat were: Group 1, quercetin, males and females < 0.03; kaempferol, males and females < 0.03; Group 2, quercetin, males 5.8, females 5.2; kaempferol, males 11.9, females 10.8; and Group 3, quercetin, males 27.8, females 25.3; kaempferol, males and females < 0.03. Growth of rats fed BF or quercetin was comparable but significantly (p < 0.01) slower after 24 weeks than that of Group 1. Mean survivals (weeks) of rats of all groups were: Group 1, 58 +/- 7 (S.D.); Group 2, 51 +/- 13; and Group 3, 56 +/- 8. They were not significantly different, although rats fed BF tended to die earlier secondary to intestinal tumor-induced intussusception and obstruction. The following incidences of intestinal or bladder neoplasms in male or female rats, respectively, were observed: Group 1, intestinal and bladder, males, 0 of 9, females, 0 of 10; Group 2, intestinal, males, 7 of 8, females, 10 of 11; bladder, males, 6 of 8, females 8 of 11; Group 3, intestinal, males, 6 of 7, females, 14 of 18; bladder, males, 2 of 7, females, 3 of 18. The histopathology of neoplasms of the 2 target organs was identical for rats of Groups 2 and 3. Multiple ileal intestinal neoplasms of rats fed quercetin included: adenoma, 4; fibroadenoma, 7; and adenocarcinoma, 9 (with mesenteric metastases, 3). The 5 bladder tumors were papillary or sessile transitional cell carcinomas.

Adenocarcinoma↗

Tumor induction in germ-free rats fed bracken (Pteridium aquilinum).

This study indicated that there was no significant difference in the incidence of intestinal tumors between germ-free and conventional rats fed a diet containing bracken, suggesting that gut microflora did not play a definite role in bracken tumorigenesis. However, bracken induced exclusively sarcoma but no adenocarcinoma in germ-free rats, whereas it induced predominantly adenocarcinoma in conventional rats.

Animals↗

Plant choice in the construction of night nests by gorillas in the Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda.

We investigated the choice of plants in nest sites and individual night nests of a group of gorillas (Gorilla beringei) in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda. Most of the nests were built on the ground in secondary forest or canopy gaps. The gorillas used 62 plant genera in their nests out of a possible 108 plant genera available in the immediate environment. This group of Bwindi gorillas chose nest sites nonrandomly with respect to habitat type and selected nest sites in which Pteridium spp. or Mimulopsis spp. were the dominant plants. The Bwindi gorillas selected Pteridium spp. and Ipomea spp. to construct their individual night nests in greater quantities compared to their proportional availability in the immediate environment.

Animals↗

Bracken poisoning and enzootic haematuria in cattle in China.

Acute bracken poisoning and enzootic haematuria are believed to have occurred in cattle in China for a long time. It is only in the past 10 years, however, that these diseases associated with the consumption of bracken ferns have been studied in detail and this paper reviews these recent studies. Based on a large scale survey, both conditions were found to be serious problems with a wide geographical distribution, especially in the mountainous regions of southwest China. Epidemiological and experimental work revealed that two species of bracken ferns, Pteridium aquilinum and Pteridium revolutum, were associated with these diseases, but the latter seems more important in China.

Animals↗