Examination of 330 samples of animal feed ingredients for the presence of a number of mycotoxins has been carried out. These samples were drawn from 186 animal feed mills in the United Kingdom. Aflatoxin B1 was the mycotoxin found most frequently, occurring in most samples of rice bran, maize products, palm kernels and cottonseed, but not in only 3 out of 20 samples of sunflower, in 1 out of 20 samples of soya and in no samples of peas, beans or manioc. Analytical difficulties were met with some combinations of commodity and mycotoxin and all results are uncorrected for recovery. The highest level was detected in a sample of maize gluten: 41 micrograms/kg of aflatoxin B1 (47 micrograms/kg total aflatoxins). Maize products also frequently contained fumonisins B1 and B2 at levels up to nearly 5,000 micrograms/kg in total and zearalenone up to a maximum level of 500 micrograms/kg. Ochratoxin A and citrinin were found in approximately 20% of wheat and barley samples. One sample of barley contained ochratoxin A at a level of 102 micrograms/kg and citrinin at a level of 8 micrograms/kg. Low levels of ochratoxin A also occurred in a few samples of other ingredients: rice bran, palm kernel and beans. Sterigmatocystin at 18 micrograms/kg was found in one sample of organically grown wheat and a trace amount of zearalenone in one sample of manioc. Multi-mycotoxin contamination also occurred, particularly in some samples of maize for which 19 out of 50 samples contained both aflatoxins and fumonisins.

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Context: Oxidative stress and formation of advanced glycation end products (AGEs), due to glycation of proteins, lipids and nucleic acids are characteristic in diabetic patients. Palmatine, a protoberberine alkaloid bioactive isolated from Coscinium fenestratum (CF) stem extract, which previously has shown to possess antidiabetic and antioxidant properties and to be able to protect the kidney and liver in a STZ-diabetic induced rat model. Aims: To evaluate the in vitro and in vivo antioxidant and anti-AGE activity of palmatine. Methods: In vitro and in vivo studies were conducted to measure radical scavenging, reducing power, inhibition of lipid peroxidation, carbonyl trapping and metal ion chelation. In vitro antiglycation activity was done using bovine serum albumin-methylglyoxal (BSA-MGO), bovine serum albumin – glucose (BSA-GLU) and glycated hemoglobin. In vivo antioxidant and antiglycation activity were used to evaluate liver and kidney extracted from STZ-induced diabetic rat after treatment with palmatine. Results: The results showed palmatine blocked the formation of AGE as shown by the results of BSA-GLU, BSA-MGO, glycated hemoglobin and inhibited the free radicals generated by DPPH, nitric oxide, hydrogen peroxide, lipid peroxidation, FRAP and metal ion chelating. It was able to stimulate in vivo the activity of catalase, super oxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase. Conclusions: Palmatine possess antioxidant and antiglycation properties, the mechanism of action seems to be via the blockage of free radical formation, decreasing of reactive carbonyl. Further research is ongoing to determine the effect of palmatine on glyoxalase 1 and aldose reductase pathway and interaction with receptor for AGE.

Palmatine a protoberberine alkaloid has been previously reported to possess in vivo antidiabetic and antioxidant property. The aim of the experiment is to evaluate the in vitro antidiabetic activity and in-silico studies of the binding energies of Palmatine, acarbose, and Sitagliptin with the three enzymes of alpha-amylase, alpha-glucosidase, and dipeptidyl peptidase-IV (DPP-IV). The in vitro antidiabetic study was done by evaluating the inhibitory effect of palmatine on the activities of alpha-amylase, alpha-glucosidase, and DPP-IV. Acarbose, and sitagliptin was used as standard drug. The molecular docking study was performed to study the binding interactions of palmatine with alpha-glucosidase, a-amylase, and DPP-IV. The binding interactions were compared with the standard compounds Sitagliptin and acarbose. Palmatine with IC50 (1.31 ± 0.27 µM) showed significant difference of (< 0.0001) higher inhibiting effect on alpha-amylase and weak inhibiting effect on alpha-glucosidase enzyme with IC50 (9.39 ± 0.27 µM) and DPP-IV with IC50 (8.7 ± 1.82 µM). Palmatine possess inhibition effect on the three enzymes.

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