Department of Animal Nutrition and Forage Production, Mendel University of Agriculture and Forestry, Brno, Czech Republic.
Int J Mol Sci. 2009 Mar;10(3):1138-60. doi: 10.3390/ijms10031138. Epub 2009 Mar 12.
Mycotoxins are secondary metabolites produced by microfungi that are capable of causing disease and death in humans and other animals. This work was aimed at investigation of influence of mouldy wheat contaminated by pathogenic fungi producing mycotoxins on metallothionein levels in hepatic tissue of rats. The rats were administrating feed mixtures with different contents of vitamins or naturally mouldy wheat for 28 days. It was found that the wheat contained deoxynivalenol (80 +/- 5 microg per kg of mouldy wheat), zearalenone (56 +/- 3 microg/kg), T2-toxin (20 +/- 2 microg/kg) and aflatoxins as a sum of B1, B2, G1 and G2 (3.9 +/- 0.2 microg/kg). Rats were fed diets containing 0, 33, 66 and 100% naturally moulded wheat. Control group 0, 33, 66 and 100% contained vitamins according to Nutrient Requirements of Rats (NRC). Other four groups (control group with vitamins, vit33, vit66 and vit100%) were fed on the same levels of mouldy wheat, also vitamins at levels 100% higher than the previous mixtures. We determined weight, feed conversion and performed dissection to observe pathological processes. Changes between control group and experimental groups exposed to influence of mouldy wheat and experimental groups supplemented by higher concentration of vitamins and mouldy wheat were not observed. Livers were sampled and did not demonstrate significant changes in morphology compared to control either. In the following experiments the levels of metallothionein as a marker of oxidative stress was determined. We observed a quite surprising trend in metallothionein levels in animals supplemented with increased concentration of vitamins. Its level enhanced with increasing content of mouldy wheat. It was possible to determine a statistically significant decline (p<0.05) between control group and groups of animals fed with 33, 66 and 100% mouldy wheat. It is likely that some mycotoxins presented in mouldy wheat are able to block the mechanism of metallothionein synthesis.
真菌毒素是由真菌产生的次生代谢物,能够导致人类和其他动物患病和死亡。这项工作旨在研究被产毒真菌污染的霉变小麦对大鼠肝组织金属硫蛋白水平的影响。大鼠喂食含有不同维生素含量或天然霉变小麦的饲料混合物 28 天。结果发现,小麦中含有脱氧雪腐镰刀菌烯醇(80 +/- 5 微克/公斤霉变小麦)、玉米赤霉烯酮(56 +/- 3 微克/公斤)、T2 毒素(20 +/- 2 微克/公斤)和黄曲霉毒素 B1、B2、G1 和 G2 的总和(3.9 +/- 0.2 微克/公斤)。大鼠喂食含有 0、33、66 和 100%天然霉变小麦的饲料。对照组 0、33、66 和 100%含有根据大鼠营养需求(NRC)确定的维生素。其他四组(对照组、vit33、vit66 和 vit100%)喂食相同水平的霉变小麦,但维生素含量比前一组混合物高 100%。我们测定了体重、饲料转化率并进行解剖观察病理过程。未观察到对照组与暴露于霉变小麦影响的实验组以及补充高浓度维生素和霉变小麦的实验组之间的变化。与对照组相比,肝脏样本的形态也没有明显变化。在随后的实验中,我们测定了金属硫蛋白作为氧化应激标志物的水平。我们观察到补充高浓度维生素的动物的金属硫蛋白水平出现了一个相当令人惊讶的趋势。其水平随着霉变小麦含量的增加而增加。与对照组相比,喂食 33、66 和 100%霉变小麦的动物组的水平显著下降(p<0.05)。可能是霉变小麦中存在的一些真菌毒素能够阻断金属硫蛋白合成的机制。