Interaction of Lactobacillus plantarum MON03 with Tunisian Montmorillonite clay and ability of the composite to immobilize Zearalenone in vitro and counteract immunotoxicity in vivo

Abstract

Background and aim: The present study was conducted to determine the abilities of the living Lactobacillus plantarum MON03 (LP) cells, Tunisian montmorillonite clay and their composites to accumulate Zearalenone (ZEA) from a liquid medium and elucidate the preventive effect of their composite in ZEA-contaminated balb/c mice showing immunotoxicity disorders.

Materials and methods: In the in vitro study, LP (2 × 10⁹ CFU/mL), TM (0.5 mg) and LP+TM were incubated with 50 µg mL⁻¹ ZEA for 0, 12 and 24 h. For the in vivo study, the composite MT+LP was evaluated also for possible protection regarding ZEA-immunotoxicity in Balb/c mice as a sensitive model.

Results: Results indicated that TM and LP+TM had a high capacity of adsorbing ZEA 87.2 ± 2.1 and 94.2 ± 2.1%, respectively. However, LP alone able to remove only 78% after 24 h of incubation. The quantity of adsorbed ZEA by LP, TM and LP+TM were 39, 43,5 and 47 µg mL⁻¹ of PBS, respectively. The in vivo results indicated that mice orally exposed to ZEA- (40 mg/kg bw) for 2 weeks showed severe immunotoxicity typical of fusarotoxicosis regarding thymocytes and splenocytes cell viability count, IFN-γ, IL-12, TNF-α production and B-cell activation. Mice treated with LP and TM alone, and LP+MT in combination with ZEA were comparable to the control.

Conclusion: Both LP and TM are safe by themselves and their composite succeeded to exert a potential prevention by counteracting ZEA-immunotoxicity and can be implicated in the biotechnology of ZEA removal in human food and animal feed.

Keywords::

• Zearalenone
• immunotoxicity
• lactobacillus
• clay
• binding
• detoxification

Acknowledgement

The Authors would like to acknowledge the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World (TWAS) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) for the financial support granted to the first author to carry out this study as a part of TWAS-UNESCO Associateship Scheme 2010–2012 at the National Institute of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (NIGEB), Iran. The work was supported also by Tunisian Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research (Unit of Immunology, Environmental Microbiology, and Cancerology) and the Higher Institute of Biotechnology of Beja (Animal Biotechnology Dept.).

Declaration of interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content of this manuscript.