Dietary Deoxynivalenol Exposure Assessment in University Students from Japan

This study was conducted to give a preliminary estimation of deoxynivalenol (DON) dietary exposure in Japanese university students (n = 30, aged 22–25 years) using a biomarker approach and to examine the correlation between wheat food intake and DON exposure levels. Spot urine samples were collected from 30 students of Azabu University, Tokyo. Urine samples were treated with enzyme digestion (for total DON measurement) and without (for unconjugated DON analysis) before clean-up using an immuno-affinity column and analysis using an LC-MS method, with a 13C15- DON internal standard used for accurate quantification. The limit of detection for this method is 0.5 ng/mL urine. The geometric mean (95% CI) of DON concentration was 2.03 (1.64 – 6.87) ng per mL urine. Ninety of the urine samples had detectable levels of urinary DON. The DON dietary intake exposure estimation suggested that one out of the 30 subjects had an intake of DON that exceeded Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) provisional maximum tolerable daily intake (PMTDI) level. Mean ratio of free DON to total DON was determined to be 19%. Wheat intake assessed using a basic food frequent questionnaire method did not show a significant correlation with the urinary DON level

Carrageenans as a New Source of Drugs with Metal Binding Properties

Carrageenans are abundant and safe non-starch polysaccharides exerting their biological effects in living organisms. Apart from their known pro-inflammation properties and some pharmacological activity, carrageenans can also strongly bind and hold metal ions. This property can be used for creation of the new drugs for elimination of metals from the body or targeted delivery of these metal ions for healing purposes. Metal binding activity of different carrageenans in aqueous solutions containing Y3+ or Pb2+ ions was studied in a batch sorption system. The metal uptake by carrageenans is not affected by the change of the pH within the range from 2.0 to 6.0. The rates and binding capacities of carrageenans regarding metal ions were evaluated. The Langmuir, Freundlich and BET sorption models were applied to describe the isotherms and constants, and the sorption isothermal data could be explained well by the Langmuir equation. The results obtained through the study suggest that κ-, ι-, and λ-carrageenans are favorable sorbents. The largest amount of Y3+ and Pb2+ ions are bound by ι-carrageenan. Therefore, it can be concluded that this type of polysaccharide is the more appropriate substance for elaboration of the drugs with high selective metal binding properties

Deoxynivalenol and its toxicity

Deoxynivalenol (DON) is one of several mycotoxins produced by certain Fusarium species that frequently infect corn, wheat, oats, barley, rice, and other grains in the field or during storage. The exposure risk to human is directly through foods of plant origin (cereal grains) or indirectly through foods of animal origin (kidney, liver, milk, eggs). It has been detected in buckwheat, popcorn, sorgum, triticale, and other food products including flour, bread, breakfast cereals, noodles, infant foods, pancakes, malt and beer. DON affects animal and human health causing acute temporary nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, headache, dizziness, and fever. This review briefly summarizes toxicities of this mycotoxin as well as effects on reproduction and their antagonistic and synergic actions

Utility of the phylotoxigenic relationships among trichothecene-producing <i>Fusarium</i> species for predicting their mycotoxin-producing potential

<div><p>Species of the genus <i>Fusarium</i> are well-known plant pathogens and mycotoxigenic fusaria are associated with health hazards to humans and animals. There is a need to understand the mechanisms of mycotoxin production by <i>Fusarium</i> species and to predict which produce mycotoxins. In this study, the <i>Fusarium</i> phylogenetic tree was first inferred among trichothecene producers and related species. We reconstructed the maximum likelihood (ML) tree based on the combined data from nucleotide sequences of rDNA cluster regions, the β-tubulin gene (β-<i>tub</i>) and the elongation factor 1α gene (<i>EF-1</i>α). Second, based on this tree topology, the ancestral states of the producing potential of type A and B trichothecenes (TriA and TriB), zearalenone (ZEN), moniliformin (MON), beauvericin (BEA) and enniatins (ENN) were reconstructed using the maximum parsimony (MP) method based on the observed production by extant species as reported in the literature. Finally, the species having the potential to produce each of these six mycotoxins was predicted on the basis of the parsimonious analysis. The ML tree indicated that the <i>Fusarium</i> species analysed in this study could be divided into two major clades. Clade I was divided into four distinct subclades: I-a, I-b, I-c and I-d. Furthermore, the parsimony reconstruction suggested that the potential for producing MON and ZEN was gained or lost only once, and that the producing potential for TriA and TriB, BEA and ENN was repeatedly gained and lost during the evolutionary history of the <i>Fusarium</i> species analysed in this study. Interestingly, the results showed the possibility that several species, about which reports were scarce with regard to mycotoxin production, have the potential to produce one or more of the six evaluated in this study. The phylogenetic information therefore helps one to predict the mycotoxin-producing potential by <i>Fusarium</i> species, and these “phylotoxigenic relationships” may be useful for predicting the pathogenicity of fungi.</p> </div