The toxicity of gossypol to the male rat.

When (+/-) gossypol acetic acid was administered to male Sprague-Dawley rats for 26 weeks, the most significant toxicological finding was marked suppression of body weight gain in rats receiving 25 mg/kg per day. Minor biochemical changes were noted at this dosage level. Terminal studies showed 6 out of 20 rats receiving 25 mg/kg per day to have varying degrees of testicular pathology. Five mg/kg per day was shown to be a "no effect" level.