MICROSOMAL AND MITOCHONDRIAL INVOLVEMENT IN PRODUCTION OF AFLATOXINS INDUCED BY CARBON-TETRACHLORIDE AND HYDROPEROXIDE IN CULTURES OF ASPERGILLUS-PARASITICUS

The production of aflatoxins and the unsaturated/saturated ratios of different lipid fractions of lipid extracts of mitochondria and microsomes of Aspergillus parasiticus grown in cultures supplemented with carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) and linoleic acid hydroperoxide are described. The presence of a strong free radical scavenger (cysteamine) was capable of fully inhibiting the aflatoxin production induced by CCl4 and linoleic acid hydroperoxide. In the culture supplemented with CCl4 the unsaturated/saturated fatty acid ratio in phospholipids of microsomes and mitochondria falls drastically compared to the normal values of the control. The addition of cysteamine to CCl4 supplemented cultures reverts the ratios to normal values