Assessment of Detoxification Efficacy of Irradiation on Zearalenone Mycotoxin in Various Fruit Juices by Response Surface Methodology and Elucidation of Its in-vitro Toxicity

Fruits are vital portion of healthy diet owed to rich source of vitamins, minerals, and dietary fibers, which are highly favorable in keeping individual fit. Unfortunately, these days, one-third of fruits were infested with fungi and their toxic metabolites called mycotoxins, which is most annoying and pose significant health risk. Therefore, there is a need to suggest appropriate mitigation strategies to overcome the mycotoxins contamination in fruits. In the present study, detoxification efficiency of irradiation on zearalenone (ZEA) mycotoxin was investigated in distilled water and fruit juices (orange, pineapple, and tomato) applying statistical program response surface methodology (RSM). The independent factors were distinct doses of irradiation and ZEA, and response factor was a percentage of ZEA reduction in content. A central composite design (CCD) consists of 13 experiments were planned applying software program Design expert with distinct doses of irradiation (up to 10 kGy) and ZEA (1–5 μg). The results revealed that independent factors had a positive significant effect on the response factor. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) was followed to fit a proper statistical model and suggested that quadratic model was appropriate. The optimized model concluded that doses of irradiation and ZEA were the determinant factors for detoxification of ZEA in fruit juices. Further, toxicological safety of irradiation mediated detoxified ZEA was assessed in the cell line model by determining the cell viability (MTT and live/dead cell assays), intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS), mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP), nuclear damage, and caspase-3 activity. The higher level of live cells and MMP, lower extent of intracellular ROS molecules and caspase-3, and intact nuclear material were noticed in cells treated with irradiation mediated detoxified ZEA related to non-detoxified ZEA. The results confirmed that toxicity of ZEA was decreased with irradiation treatment and detoxification of ZEA by irradiation is safe. The study concluded that irradiation could be a potential post-harvest food processing technique for detoxification of ZEA mycotoxin in fruit juices. However, irradiation of fruit juices with high dose of 10 kGy has minimally altered the quality of fruit juices

Discrete and combined effects of Ylang-Ylang (Cananga odorata) essential oil and gamma irradiation on growth and mycotoxins production by Fusarium graminearum in maize

In the present study, discrete and combined inhibitory effects of Cananga odorata essential oil (COEO) and irradiation were established on growth and production of deoxynivalenol (DON) and zearalenone (ZEA) by Fusarium graminearum in maize kernels. Chemical profile of COEO was characterized by GC-MS and a total of 35 chemical constituents were identified, and major compounds were linalool (29.15), germacrene-D (11.82), and thymol (8.45). The COEO and irradiation have inhibited the fungal growth and mycotoxins at 3.9 mg/g and 7.5 kGy, respectively. Distinct inhibitory activity of COEO and irradiation on fungal growth and mycotoxins was assessed by constructing linear regression curves. Regression models of COEO and irradiation have presented good coefficients of determination (R2) of 0.9886 and 0.9798 for fungal growth (log CFU), 0.97 and 0.9622 for DON, and 0.9811 and 0.9807 for ZEA, respectively. The linear regression models concluded that COEO and irradiation have dose-dependent inhibitory effect on fungal growth and mycotoxins. Further, combined inhibitory effect of COEO and irradiation on fungal growth and mycotoxins was assessed by checkerboard method. The combined treatment of COEO and irradiation was too shown decent coefficients of determination (R2) and found greatly effective. The combined treatments of COEO and irradiation have inhibited the fungal growth and mycotoxins in stored maize kernels much below than their discrete inhibitory levels, and it was noticed at 2.5 mg/g of COEO and 4 kGy of irradiation. The study concluded that combination of essential oil and irradiation could be highly efficient decontamination technique to diminish the fungal growth and mycotoxins in agricultural commodities