Do Plant-Bound Masked Mycotoxins Contribute to Toxicity?

This work is funded by the Scottish Government Rural and Environment Science and Analytical Services Division (RESAS).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Multi-mycotoxin exposure assessment in UK children using urinary biomarkers - a pilot survey

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Different types of soluble fermentable dietary fibre decrease food intake, body weight gain and adiposity in young adult male rats

We thank Donna Wallace and the Rowett Animal House staff for the daily care of experimental rats, body weight and food intake measurements and MRI scanning, Vivien Buchan and Donna Henderson of the Rowett Analytical Department for proximate analyses and SCFA GC, and Andrew Chappell for conducting the beta-glucan analysis. This research was funded by the Scottish Government’s Rural and Environment Science and Analytical Services Division.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Comparison of microbial signatures between paired faecal and rectal biopsy samples from healthy volunteers using next-generation sequencing and culturomics

Acknowledgements We are indebted to our volunteers for providing the faecal and biopsy samples without which this study would not have been possible. We thank the members of the Rowett Gut Health research team for discussions and advice. The authors thank the Centre for Genome Enabled Biology and Medicine for Illumina sequencing and useful discussions. Funding This work was supported by funding from Probi AB (Grant Ref: RG14104). The Rowett Institute (University of Aberdeen) receives financial support from the Scottish Government Rural and Environmental Sciences and Analytical Services (RESAS).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Accumulation of promutagenic DNA adducts in the mouse distal colon after consumption of heme does not induce colonic neoplasms in the western diet model of spontaneous colorectal cancer

Author version made available in accordance with Publisher copyright policy.Scope: Red meat is considered a risk factor for colorectal cancer (CRC). Heme is considered to promote colonic hyperproliferation and cell damage. Resistant starch (RS) is a food that ferments in the colon with studies demonstrating protective effects against CRC. By utilizing the western diet model of spontaneous CRC, we determined if feeding heme (as hemin chloride) equivalent to a high red meat diet would increase colonic DNA adducts and CRC and whether RS could abrogate such effects. Methods and results: Four groups of mice: control, heme, RS and heme + RS were fed diets for 1 or 18 months. Colons were analyzed for apoptosis, proliferation, DNA adducts “8-hydroxy-2-deoxyguanosine” and “O6-methyl-2-deoxyguanosine” (O6MeG), and neoplasms. In the short term, heme increased cell proliferation (p < 0.05). Changes from 1 to 18 months showed increased cell proliferation (p<0.01) and 8-hydroxy-2-deoxyguanosine adducts (p < 0.05) in all groups, but only heme-fed mice showed reduced apoptosis (p < 0.01) and increasedO6MeGadducts (p<0.01). The incidence of colon neoplasms was not different between any interventions. Conclusion: We identified heme to increase proliferation in the short term, inhibit apoptosis over the long term, and increase O6MeG adducts in the colon over time although these changes did not affect colonic neoplasms within this mouse model.Funding for this project was provided by the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia (Project number 535079).We would like to acknowledge the Royal Society of Edinburgh for funding a visit for Dr. SilviaGratz fromUKto Australia to carry out work associated with this project

Free and Modified Mycotoxins in Organic and Conventional Oats (Avena sativa L.) Grown in Scotland

Funding This study has received funding from the Interface Multiparty Fund; the Rowett Institute and Biomathematics & Statistics Scotland receives funding from the Scottish Government Rural and Environment Science and Analytical Services (RESAS). Acknowledgments Authors acknowledge the involvement of Hamlyns, WN Lindsay and all farmers in contributing to sample collection. Susan McCormick and Mark Busman at the USDA Agricultural Research Service in Peoria, IL, USA, are acknowledged for providing the standard solutions of DAS-Glc, T-2-Glc and HT-2-Glc used in this study. The ZEN-Glc standard used in this study was previously synthesised as part of the FSA-funded project FS102101.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Effects of Dietary Fibre (Pectin) and/or Increased Protein (Casein or Pea) on Satiety, Body Weight, Adiposity and Caecal Fermentation in High Fat Diet-Induced Obese Rats

We thank the University of Aberdeen MRF staff for the daily care of experimental rats, body weight, food intake and MRI measurements. We also thank the Analytical Department of the Rowett Institute for Nutrition and Health for the proximate analyses, glucose determinations and SCFA GC. Funding: This work was funded by the Scottish Government Rural and Environment Science and Analytical Services Division. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Higher total faecal short-chain fatty acid concentrations correlate with increasing proportions of butyrate and decreasing proportions of branched-chain fatty acids across multiple human studies

Metabolites produced by microbial fermentation in the human intestine, especially short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), are known to play important roles in colonic and systemic health. Our aim here was to advance our understanding of how and why their concentrations and proportions vary between individuals. We have analysed faecal concentrations of microbial fermentation acids from 10 human volunteer studies, involving 163 subjects, conducted at the Rowett Institute, Aberdeen, UK over a 7-year period. In baseline samples, the % butyrate was significantly higher, whilst % iso-butyrate and % iso-valerate were significantly lower, with increasing total SCFA concentration. The decreasing proportions of iso-butyrate and iso-valerate, derived from amino acid fermentation, suggest that fibre intake was mainly responsible for increased SCFA concentrations. We propose that the increase in % butyrate among faecal SCFA is largely driven by a decrease in colonic pH resulting from higher SCFA concentrations. Consistent with this, both total SCFA and % butyrate increased significantly with decreasing pH across five studies for which faecal pH measurements were available. Colonic pH influences butyrate production through altering the stoichiometry of butyrate formation by butyrate-producing species, resulting in increased acetate uptake and butyrate formation, and facilitating increased relative abundance of butyrate-producing species (notably Roseburia and Eubacterium rectale).The Rowett Institute (University of Aberdeen) receives financial support from the Scottish Government Rural and Environmental Sciences and Analytical Services (RESAS). Studies 779 and 780 were supported by a grant from the World Cancer Research Fund.Peer reviewe

Masked trichothecene and zearalenone mycotoxins withstand digestion and absorption in the upper GI tract but are efficiently hydrolyzed by human gut microbiota in vitro

Acknowledgements This study was funded by the Food Standards Agency UK (FS 102101). The contributions of GH and AJR were funded by the Rural and Environment Science and Analytical Services Division (RESAS) of the Scottish Government.Peer reviewedPostprintPostprin