Harmful Effects and Control Strategies of Aflatoxin B1 Produced by Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus Strains on Poultry: Review

Abstract

The presence of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) in poultry diets decreases the hatchability, hatchling weight, growth rate, meat and egg production, meat and egg quality, vaccination efficiency, as well as impairing the feed conversion ratio and increasing the susceptibility of birds to disease and mortality. AFB1 is transferred from poultry feed to eggs, meat, and other edible parts, representing a threat to the health of consumers because AFB1 is carcinogenic and implicated in human liver cancer. This review considers how AFB1 produced by Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus strains can affect the immune system, antioxidant defense system, digestive system, and reproductive system in poultry, as well as its effects on productivity and reproductive performance. Nutritional factors can offset the effects of AFB1 in poultry and, thus, it is necessary to identify and select suitable additives to address the problems caused by AFB1 in poultry.

Chronic and Acute Toxicities of Aflatoxins: Mechanisms of Action

“…Repeated exposure to low doses of aflatoxins over a lifetime causes chronic diseases, the most frequent and severe of which is cancer. Although dietary intake of aflatoxins has been classically associated with primary liver cancer, i.e., HCC and bile duct hyperplasia [3], other organs, such as the kidney, the pancreas, the bladder, bone, viscera, etc., have also been reported to develop cancer upon exposure to these mycotoxins [1]. In addition, aflatoxins were reported to cause lung [4] and skin [5] occupational cancers via inhalation and direct contact, respectively.…”

“…However, subsequent epidemiological and animal studies demonstrated their carcinogenicity to remote organs from the liver, including the kidney, the pancreas, the bladder, bone, viscera, central nervous system, etc. [1]. In the case of aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), the best studied aflatoxin, AFB1-exo 8,9-epoxide, which is formed as the first step of AFB1 metabolism by microsomal cytochrome enzyme (CYP450) has been considered as the ultimate responsible for genotoxicity.…”

The Assessment of Diet Contaminated with Aflatoxin B1 in Juvenile Turbot (Scophthalmus maximus) and the Evaluation of the Efficacy of Mitigation of a Yeast Cell Wall Extract

“…Aflatoxin B 1 (AFB 1 ), the secondary metabolite of fungi Aspergillus parasiticus and A. flavus [7], is one of the most harmful mycotoxins [8]. In poultry and livestock, the detrimental effects of AFB 1 include low productivity, high mortality of offspring, anorexia, poor growth, immune dysfunction, and AFB 1 residues in edible animal parts [9][10][11][12][13][14][15]. In fish, there were studies of various species exposed to AFB 1 .…”

The Effect of Aspergillus fumigatus Infection on Antibody Immune Response to Newcastle Disease Virus in Broiler Chickens.

“…Bellocchio et al (2005) reported that A. fumigatus induced immune response of Th2 lymphocytes that had a role in immunosuppression, resulting in increased susceptibility to the infection and reduced survival. In addition, gliotoxin, a metabolite of A. fumigatus has the ability to suppress immune responses and cause apoptosis in primary and secondary lymphoid organs (Watanabe et al, 2003;Arné et al, 2011;Fouad et al, 2019). The concentration of gliotoxin in tissues of turkeys with airsacculitis was found to be 70 µg/g (Richard et al, 1996a), and the death of peripheral lymphocytes of those infected turkeys was attributed to high concentration of gliotoxin in their blood (Richard et al, 1994b;Arias et al, 2018).…”