A semi-purified corn-based diet containing 50 mg/kg of pure (not less than 90%) fumonisin B1 (FB1), isolated from culture material of Fusarium moniliforme strain MRC 826, was fed to a group of 25 rats over a period of 26 months. A control group of 25 rats received the same diet without FB1. Five rats from each group were killed at 6, 12, 20 and 26 months. The liver was the main target organ in the FB1-treated rats and the hepatic pathological changes were identical to those previously reported in rats fed culture material of F.moniliforme MRC 826. All FB1-treated rats that died or were killed from 18 months onwards suffered from a micro- and macronodular cirrhosis and had large expansile nodules of cholangiofibrosis at the hilus of the liver. Ten out of 15 FB1-treated rats (66%) that were killed and/or died between 18 and 26 months developed primary hepatocellular carcinoma. Metastases to the heart, lungs or kidneys were present in four of the rats with hepatocellular carcinoma. No neoplastic changes were observed in any of the control rats. Chronic interstitial nephritis was present in the kidneys of FB1-treated rats killed after 26 months. No lesions were observed in the esophagus, heart or forestomach of FB1-treated rats and this is contrary to previous findings when culture material of the fungus was fed to rats. It is concluded that FB1 is responsible for the hepatocarcinogenic and the hepatotoxic but not all the other toxic effects of culture material of F.moniliforme MRC 826 in rats.

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The free radical scavenging activity of South African red (n = 46) and white (n = 40) cultivar wines was determined using 2,2'-azinobis(3-ethylbenzothialozinesulfonic acid) radical cations (ABTS(.+)) and 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radicals (DPPH.). The total antioxidant activities (TAA) of red and white wines using ABTS(.+) were 14.916 and 0.939 mM Trolox, respectively, at corresponding total phenol (TP) contents of 2339.0 and 273.8 mg of gallic acid equiv/L. Ruby Cabernet wines had the lowest TAA(ABTS) (13.177 mM Trolox) of the red wines, whereas the TAA(ABTS) values of Chardonnay and Chenin blanc wines were the highest (1.060 mM Trolox) and lowest (0.800 mM Trolox) of the white wines. The TAA(DPPH) values were of the same magnitude as the TAA(ABTS) values, and similar trends were observed. TAA correlated (P < 0.001) with total phenol content of red (r = 0.935) and white (r = 0.907) wines, as well as flavanol content of red wines (r = 0.866) and tartaric acid ester content of white wines (r = 0.767). Canonical discriminant analysis using phenolic composition and antioxidant activity was applied to differentiate between red and white cultivar wines.