Diet contaminated with ochratoxin A at the highest level allowed by EU recommendation disturbs liver metabolism in weaned piglets

Abstract

Ochratoxins, are toxic fungal metabolites produced by certain moulds of the genera Aspergillus and Penicillium that grow on a wide range of raw food commodities. The most relevant toxin is ochratoxin A (OTA) and the European Commission has established guidance values for OTA concerning complementary and complete feeding stuff recommending that for pigs a maximum concentration of 0.05 mg/kg. These guidance values represent only a recommendation of the Commission and the establishment of a legal regulation needs additional toxicological data generated from farm animal experiments. The aim of this paper was to investigate the effect of OTA – at the recommended EU guidance value of 0.05 mg/kg – on liver health. For this purpose, twelve crossbred, weaned piglets were fed for 33 days a maize-soybean-meal-based diet contaminated or not with 0.05 mg/kg OTA. Blood plasma samples were collected at the end of this period and subjected to biochemical analyses, whereas liver samples were analysed for cytokine concentration (ELISA), enzyme activity and expression of selected genes (qRT-PCR) involved in liver metabolism. Exposure to OTA resulted in a significant decrease in the concentrations of total protein, albumin and nitric oxide in plasma, and interleukin-6 in the liver. OTA exposure also resulted in a significant increase of alanine aminotransferase and triglycerides in plasma and of superoxide dismutase in the liver. In conclusion, the administration of 0.05 mg/kg of OTA, to weaned piglets for a period of 33 days caused measurable hepatocellular injury in the toxin-exposed. Additional in vivo studies should be performed with larger numbers of animals in order to confirm our results and to provide robust data for the establishment of safe concentrations of OTA in swine feeds.

Grape Seed Waste Counteracts Aflatoxin B1 Toxicity in Piglet Mesenteric Lymph Nodes

“…Real-time PCR was used to evaluate the expression of transcription factors: c-Jun, nuclear factor NF-kappa-B p65 (NF-kB p65), and signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3); MAP kinases: extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK 1), c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK 1, JNK2) and p38, and metalloproteinase MMP2; cytokines: tumor necrosis factor (TNF alpha), interleukin beta (IL-1 beta), interferon gamma (IFN gamma), interleukin 8 (IL-8), and interleukin 18 (IL-18), as already described by Marin et al [ 40 ]. The sequence of gene-specific primer pairs and the conditions used for the reactions have already been published in our previous papers [ 54 , 55 , 56 ]. Duplicates were performed for each gene, and melting curves were used for the confirmation of the formation of single PCR products.…”

Risk assessment of ochratoxin A in food

“…The CONTAM Panel noted that the subtle changes in biochemical parameters reported in the 33-day feeding study using only one dose by Marin et al (2016) could not be considered as being clearly adverse and are inconsistent with a subsequent report from the same group (Marin et al, 2018). Therefore, the CONTAM Panel considered that the study by Marin et al (2016) was not suitable for hazard characterisation. (2009).…”

The effects of a low dose OTA exposure on weanling piglet gut microbiota

“…At the genus level, Bacteroides, Bifidobacter, Dorea, Escherichia, Enterobacter, Oribacterium, Ruminococcus and Syntrophococcus were the most significantly affected genera by OTA compared to the genus Lactobacillus which has the strongest resistance to OTA (Altafini, Armorini, Zaghini, Sardi, & Roncada, 2017;Brunse et al, 2019;Guo et al, 2014;Liew & Mohd-Redzwan, 2018;D. Marin et al, 2016).…”

“…CONCLUSION Some of the most susceptible species of farm animals towards feed contaminated with OTA are represented by pigs, with the porcine chronic nephropathy being strictly associated with the OTA presence, with widely known symptomatology reported in the veterinary clinical publications (Stoev et al, 2012;Tung et al, 2019). High doses of the toxin can also cause liver damage and necrosis of intestinal and lymphatic tissue (D. Marin et al, 2016;W. Wang et al, 2019).…”