[Studies on relationship between toxicity of trichothecene toxin T-2 and its structure].

Toxic action of mycotoxin T-2 and its metabolite T-2 tetraol and deepoxy T-2; tetraol was studied by cytotoxicity and animal toxicity tests to explore the relationship between toxin T-2 and its structure. Restults showed that proliferation of LLC-PK1 cells and synthesis of DNA could be inhibited by both toxin T-2 and T-2 tetraol. Toxicity of toxin T-2 was 100 times greater than that of T-2 tetraol. There was no obvious toxicity to the proliferation of LLC-PK1 cells and synthesis of DNA in a dose of 10 mg/L deepoxy T-2 tetraol. But, toxin T-2 caused obvious damage in heart muscle and articular cartilage of chicken embryos, and T-2 tetraol and deepoxy T-2 tetraol in heart muscle, but not in articular cartilage. T-2 tetraol produced by hydrolysis of toxin T-2 had toxicity to certain extent, but its strength was significantly less than that of the latter. It suggests that the epoxide group in toxin T-2 played a determinant role for its toxicity. If epoxy cycle of the basic nucleus of the molecule is open, its toxicity will change significantly.