The Influence of Fusarium Mycotoxins on the Liver of Gilts and Their Suckling Piglets

Abstract

Mycotoxins are common fungal secondary metabolites in both animal feed and human food, representing widespread toxic contaminants that cause various adverse effects. Co-contamination with different mycotoxins is frequent; therefore, this study focused on feed contaminated with Fusarium mycotoxins, namely, deoxynivalenol (5.08 mg/kg), zearalenone (0.09 mg/kg), and fusaric acid (21.6 mg/kg). Their effects on the liver of gilts and their piglets were chosen as the research subject as pigs are one of the most sensitive animal species that are also physiologically very similar to humans. The gilts were fed the experimental diet for 54 ± 1 day, starting late in their pregnancy and continuing until roughly a week after weaning of their piglets. Livers of gilts and their piglets were assessed for different histopathological changes, apoptosis, and proliferation activity of hepatocytes. On histopathology, gilts fed the experimental diet had a statistically significant increase in hepatocellular necrosis and apoptosis (p = 0.0318) as well as sinusoidal leukocytosis with inflammatory infiltrates of hepatic lobules (p = 0.0004). The amount of interlobular connective tissue in the liver of experimental gilts was also significantly decreased (p = 0.0232), implying a disruption in the formation of fibrous connective tissue. Apoptosis of hepatocytes and of cells in hepatic sinusoids, further assessed by the terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick-end labelling (TUNEL) assay, showed a statistically significant increase (p = 0.0224 and p = 0.0007, respectively). No differences were observed in piglet livers. These results indicated that Fusarium mycotoxins elicited increased apoptosis, necrosis, and inflammation in the liver of gilts, but caused no effects on the liver of piglets at these concentrations.

Oxidative Status and Histological Evaluation of Wild Boars’ Tissues Positive for Zearalenone Contamination in the Campania Region, Southern Italy

“…In fact, significant fibrosis with the evidence of hepatocyte degradation can be observed in the ZEN+ group's livers. These findings are consistent with previous studies from the literature in which liver lesions and alterations of some enzymatic indices of the hepatic function were detected in rats [41], rabbits [42], and gilts [43], as well as Polish wild boars [44], after ZEN exposure. Moreover, hepatocyte degeneration found in the livers supports the notion that ZEN is a potent apoptosis inductor in the mammalian system in a dose-and time-dependent manner, as previously reported by in vivo and in vitro experiments [45,46].…”

Protective and detoxifying effects conferred by selenium against mycotoxins and livestock viruses: A review

“…Further studies of the gene expression profiles of pig liver showed that DON and ZEN induced significant changes in the overall transcriptome ( 13 ). Furthermore, sows fed with diets containing DON, ZEN, and fusaric acid significantly increased hepatocyte necrosis, apoptosis, and sinusoidal leukocytes with mixed inflammatory infiltration in hepatic lobules, with apoptotic hepatocytes increasing significantly in the hepatic sinuses of experimental sows ( 14 ).…”

Roles of stress response‐related signaling and its contribution to the toxicity of zearalenone in mammals

“…Besides intestinal tract, liver is the other major organ of ZEA metabolism in mammals (Malekinejad et al., 2006). Research has found that the apoptosis rates of hepatocytes and mixed inflammatory infiltration of liver lobule were significantly increased in gilts fed an experimental diet contaminated with ZEA (0.09 mg/kg) (Dolensek et al., 2021). Notably, ZEA can significantly increase the serum levels of AST, ALT, ALP, LDH, and other antioxidant enzymes such as SOD, CAT, and GSH in mice (AbuZahra et al., 2021).…”