Effects of T-2 toxin on histopathology, fatty acid and water distribution of shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) muscle

Abstract

T-2 toxin (T-2), one of the naturally occurring mycotoxins, often accumulates in aquatic animals from contaminated feed. Shrimp (n = 30 per group) were fed with different concentrations (0, 0.5, 1.5, 4.5 and 13.5 mg kg⁻¹) of T-2 for 20 days. Changes in histopathology, fatty acid and water distribution of shrimp muscle were analyzed. Histopathology of shrimp muscle showed dose-dependent marked degenerative and necrotic changes on exposure to dietary T-2. The T-2 significantly (P < 0.05) affected the muscle fatty acid composition. ∑SFA, ∑MUFA and ∑PUFA initially decreased and then increased slowly in the high-dosed groups. C16:0, C18:1n-9 and C18:2n-6 were the main saturated fatty acid (SFA), monounsaturated fatty acid (MUFA) and polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA), respectively. Also, T-2 significantly affected water distribution in shrimp muscle. High doses of T-2 reduced free water content, resulting in a reduction in the water holding capacity and hence changes to the shrimp muscle quality. Collectively, these results illustrated that T-2 significantly affects the fatty acid and water distribution, and also muscle histopathology, all of which would result in a reduction in the quality and nutritional value of shrimp.

Keywords:

• Shrimp
• T-2 toxin
• muscle histopathology
• fatty acids
• water distribution

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (31171634 and 31371777), Project funded by China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2017M611382), and Science and Technology Planning Project of Guangdong Province (2014B020205006).