AFM₁ exposure in male balb/c mice and intervention strategies against its immuno-physiological toxicity using clay mineral and lactic acid bacteria alone or in combination

Abstract

Context

Aflatoxins are the most harmful mycotoxins that cause human and animal health concerns. Aflatoxin M₁ (AFM₁) is the primary hydroxylated metabolite of aflatoxin B₁ and is linked to the development of hepatocellular carcinoma and immunotoxicity in humans and animals. Because of the important role of dairy products in human life, especially children, AFM₁ is such a major concern to humans because of its frequent occurrence in dairy products at concentrations high enough to cause adverse effects to human and animal health. Reduced its bioavailability becomes a high priority in order to protect human and animal health.

Objectives

This study aimed to investigate, in vivo, the ability of lactic acid bacteria (lactobacillus rhamnosus GAF01, LR) and clay mineral (bentonite, BT) mixture to mitigate/reduce AFM₁-induced immunotoxicity, hepatotoxicity, nephrotoxicity and oxidative stress in exposed Balb/c mice.

Materials and methods

The in vivo study was conducted using male Balb/c mice that treated, orally, by AFM₁ alone or in combination with LR and/or BT, daily for 10 days as follows: group 1 control received 200 µl of PBS, group 2 treated with LR alone (2.10⁸ CFU/mL), group 3 treated with BT alone (1 g/kg bw), group 4 treated with AFM₁ alone (100 μg/kg), group 5 co-treated with LR + AFM₁, group 6 co-treated with BT + AFM₁, group 7 co-treated with BT + LR + AFM₁. Forty-eight h after the end of the treatment, the mice were sacrificed and the blood, spleen, thymus, liver and kidney were collected. The blood was used for biochemical and immunological study. Spleen and thymus samples were used to thymocytes and splenocytes assessments. Liver and kidney samples were the target for evaluation of oxidative stress enzymes status and for histological assays.

Results

The results showed that AFM₁ caused toxicities in male Blab/c mice at different levels. Treatment with AFM₁ resulted in severe stress of liver and kidney organs indicated by a significant change in the biochemical and immunological parameters, histopathology as well as a disorder in the profile of oxidative stress enzymes levels. Also, it was demonstrated that AFM₁ caused toxicities in thymus and spleen organs. The co-treatment with LR and/or BT significantly improved the hepatic and renal tissues, regulated antioxidant enzyme activities, spleen and thymus viability and biochemical and immunological parameters. LR and BT alone showed to be safe during the treatment.

Conclusion

In summary, the LR and/or BT was able to reduce the biochemical, histopathological and immunological damages induced by AFM₁ and indeed it could be exploited as one of the biological strategies for food and feedstuffs detoxification.

Keywords:

• Aflatoxin M₁
• bentonite
• lactic acid bacteria
• toxicity
• detoxification

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work has been supported by the PHC Maghreb project 09MAG20. The authors are also most grateful to the Tunisian Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research and to the World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) for their financial (TYAN Collaborating Grant Award 2023).