Combined Toxicity Evaluation of Ochratoxin A and Aflatoxin B1 on Kidney and Liver Injury, Immune Inflammation, and Gut Microbiota Alteration Through Pair-Feeding Pullet Model

Abstract

Ochratoxin A (OTA) and aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) are often co-contaminated, but their synergistic toxicity in poultry is limitedly described. Furthermore, the traditional ad libitum feeding model may fail to distinguish the specific impact of mycotoxins on the biomarkers and the indirect effect of mildew on the palatability of feed. A pair-feeding model was introduced to investigate the specific effect and the indirect effect of the combined toxicity of OTA and AFB1, which were independent and dependent on feed intake, respectively. A total of 180 one-day-old pullets were randomly divided into 3 groups with 6 replicates, and each replicate contained 10 chicks. The control group (Group A) and the pair-feeding group (Group B) received the basal diet without mycotoxin contamination. Group C was administrated with OTA- and AFB1-contaminated feed (101.41 μg/kg of OTA + 20.10 μg/kg of AFB1). The scale of feeding in Group B matched with the feed intake of Group C. The trial lasted 42 days. Compared with the control group, co-contamination of OTA and AFB1 in feed could adversely affect the growth performance (average daily feed intake (ADFI), body weight (BW), average daily weight gain (ADG), feed conversion ratio (FCR), and shank length (SL)), decrease the relative weight of the spleen (p < 0.01), and increase the relative weight of the kidney (p < 0.01). Moreover, the reduction of feed intake could also adversely affect the growth performance (BW, ADG, and SL), but not as severely as mycotoxins do. Apart from that, OTA and AFB1 also activated the antioxidative and inflammation reactions of chicks, increasing the level of catalase (CAT), reactive oxygen species (ROS), and interleukin-8 (IL-8) while decreasing the level of IL-10 (p < 0.01), which was weakly influenced by the feed intake reduction. In addition, OTA and AFB1 induced histopathological changes and apoptosis in the kidney and liver as well as stimulated the growth of pernicious bacteria to cause toxic effects. There were no histopathological changes and apoptosis in the kidney and liver of the pair-feeding group. The combined toxicity of OTA and AFB1 had more severe effects on pullets than merely reducing feed supply. However, the proper reduction of the feed intake could improve pullets’ physical health by enriching the bacteria Lactobacillus, Phascolarctobacterium, Bacteroides, Parabacteroides, and Barnesiella.

Maternal exposure to multiple mycotoxins and adverse pregnancy outcomes: a prospective cohort study in rural Bangladesh

“…As intestinal epithelial cells are the first targets of ingested mycotoxins such as OTA, CIT, and DON, the mechanism of growth faltering is likely from mycotoxin-induced damage and inflammation of the intestinal mucosa resulting in poor maternal uptake and retention of nutrients leading to poor maternal weight gain and, consequently, growth faltering in the fetus (Ghareeb et al 2015 ; Liew and Mohd-Redzwan 2018 ; Nakayama et al 2018 ; Qing et al 2022 ; Zhai et al 2021 ). Thus, it is somewhat baffling that the evidence for the association between LBW and high OTA intake in our study did not exist for other adverse pregnancy outcomes, such as SGA, which should follow a similar biological pathway.…”

Toxicokinetics of a Single Oral Dose of OTA on Dezhou Male Donkeys

“…Ochratoxin A (OTA) is among the secondary metabolites produced by Aspergillus species and Penicillium species [ 1 ], which are widely presented in crops, fruits, nuts and meat products [ 2 ], causing diverse toxicities in the host, including immunotoxicity [ 3 , 4 ], nephrotoxicity [ 5 , 6 ], hepatotoxicity [ 7 ], and carcinogenicity [ 8 ]. OTA enters the organism and tends to accumulate mainly in the liver and kidney, which are its key target organs in exerting toxic effects [ 9 , 10 , 11 ].…”

High‐pressure acidified steaming with varied citric acid dosing can successfully detoxify mycotoxins

“…Mycotoxins are toxic fungal metabolites produced by some molds in grains, nuts, spices, dried fruits, etc. Mycotoxins are chemically stable, with most of them posing concerns to humans and livestock, including the potent toxic mycotoxins such as aflatoxins, ochratoxins, zearalenone, nivalenol, deoxynivalenol, citrinin, fumonisins, and patulin (Gab-Allah et al, 2023;Qing et al, 2022;Vylkova, 2017).…”

“…Mycotoxins are toxic fungal metabolites produced by some molds in grains, nuts, spices, dried fruits, etc. Mycotoxins are chemically stable, with most of them posing concerns to humans and livestock, including the potent toxic mycotoxins such as aflatoxins, ochratoxins, zearalenone, nivalenol, deoxynivalenol, citrinin, fumonisins, and patulin (Gab‐Allah et al, 2023 ; Qing et al, 2022 ; Vylkova, 2017 ). Many industrial and domestic processes, including heat treatment (roasting, boiling, and frying), fermentation, and irradiation, among others, have been studied for the removal of mycotoxins in foods (Awuchi, Ondari, Ofoedu, et al, 2021 ; Ozkan et al, 2023 ).…”