NEPHROPATHY CAUSED BY OCHRATOXIN-A IN A H UNGARIAN SWINE STOCK

On a back-yard farm the following clinical symptoms were observed in t he fattening pigs: anorexia, weakness, incoordinated movement due to t he weakness of the posterior body half, frequent and increased drinkin g-water consumption, as well as diarrhoea in certain pigs and skin hae morrhages all over the body. Pathological examination of two died and 10 emergency slaughtered pigs revealed enlargement of kidneys, varicol oured and later on diffuse, pale, greyish-brown discolouration of the cortical substance (Fig. 1). Great number of small, greyish-white comp act foci of size of pin-pricks to pinhead, cysts, filled with liquid, telangiectasis and petechias were observed in the compact cortical sub stance. Other organs showed no alterations. Occasionally pulmonary ple thora, oedema and focal pneumonia were observed. The light and electro n microscopic examinations revealed focal or diffuse renal fibrosis, a ccompanied with parenchymal atrophy (Figs 2 and -3). Exudate, rich in fibrin accumulated in the intact renal bodies, lumen of Bowman's capsu les and glomerules (Fig. 4), cystiform dilatation of the lumen of cert ain renal bodies, as well as sections of tubules (Fig. 5), atrophy of tubular epithelium (Fig 7), and sporadically inflammatory cellular inf iltration and crystallization were observed (Figs 6 and 8). During the toxicological investigations, ochratoxin-A was demonstrated in a quan tity of 0.03 mg/kg and 0,05 mg/kg in the kidneys and blood sera of fou r emergency slaughtered pigs, respectively.