Effects of Prolonged Exposure to Low‐Dose Fumonisin B₁ in Pigs

Abstract

From the point of view of human exposure, fumonisins (FB1, FB2, FB1, FB4), a relatively recently (1988) discovered and identified group of mycotoxins, represent one of the five most important mycotoxin groups causing human disease. In an earlier experiment studying the effects of relatively low doses (10, 20 and 40 p.p.m.) of FB1 in weaned piglets, it was established that the 4-week feeding of 10 p.p.m. (mg/kg feed) FB1 produced mild pulmonary oedema. This suggested the importance of studies with even lower doses of the toxin to determine the tolerable limits. The objective of this experiment was therefore to study the effects of prolonged (8-week) exposure to still lower concentrations (0, 1, 5 and 10 mg/kg feed) of FB1. The 8-week feeding of FB1 in low concentrations (1-10 p.p.m.) did not cause clinical signs and significant performance impairment in pigs, but rendered irreversible the chronic changes that had already developed in the animals in a dose-dependent manner. Dissection revealed pathological alterations of the lungs in one of the animals given 1 p.p.m. (n = 4), in two animals exposed to 5 p.p.m. (n = 5), and in three animals given 10 p.p.m. (n = 4). In all three treatment groups, proliferation of the connective tissue fibres, primarily of those around the lymphatic vessels, in the subpleural and interlobular connective tissue of the lungs, extending to the peribronchial and peribronchiolar areas, was seen. The results of this experiment call attention to the risk of prolonged low-dose toxin exposure, which has very important public health implications.

Effect of Low Dose of Fumonisins on Pig Health: Immune Status, Intestinal Microbiota and Sensitivity to Salmonella

“…These results are consistent with those of previous studies performed on conventional piglets fed diets containing 1 to 10 ppm FB 1 for 4 to 8 weeks [10,29,30]. These studies did not show any deleterious effects of fumonisins on either the performance or health of piglets.…”

“…Fumonisins have a molecular structure similar to that of sphinganine (Sa) and sphingosine (So), both of which are cell components of the carbon skeleton of sphingolipids, and which affect the Sa/So ratio. Both [9] and [10] found an increased Sa/So ratio in serum from pigs fed FB 1 at concentrations of ≥5 ppm. This increase in the ratio is considered to be a dose-dependent early marker of exposure to fumonisins [9,11].…”

Sex-related differences in the immune response of weanling piglets exposed to low doses of fumonisin extract

“…In a previous study with purified toxin, biochemical changes were only observed at early (2 weeks) or late (8 weeks) time points (Rotter et al 1996). No significant effect of FB 1 from fungal culture material was observed on blood parameters (Zomborszky-Kovacs et al 2002).…”

EFFECTS OF NATURALLY PRODUCED DIETARY <i>FUSARIUM</i> MYCOTOXINS ON WEANING PIGS

“…According to Zomborszky-Kovács et al (2002), 1,000 µg kg −1 of FB1 was considered a tolerable concentration for pigs, thus the concentration of FB1 in the current study would not be the major cause for the reduction in growth performance of pigs. The overall reductions in ADG and G: F of pigs fed diet 4 compared with diet 1 were 6.4 and 2.7%, respectively.…”