Absorption, distribution and elimination of fumonisin B₁ metabolites in weaned piglets

Abstract

The absorption, distribution and elimination of fumonisin B₁ (and B₂) after oral administration of Fusarium verticillioides (MRC 826) fungal culture, mixed into the experimental feed for 10 days, was studied in weaned barrows. In order to determine the absorption of FB₁ from the feed marked by chromium oxide, a special T-cannula was implanted into the distal part of pigs’ ileum. During the feeding of toxin-containing diet (45 mg FB₁ kg⁻¹) and until the tenth day after the end of treatment, the total quantity of urine and faeces was collected and their toxin content analysed. At the end of the trial, samples of lung, liver, kidney, brain, muscle, and fat were also collected and their fumonisin content analysed by LC-MS. The fumonisins appeared to decrease the reduced glutathione content in blood plasma and red blood cell haemolysate, possibly associated with in vivo lipid peroxidation. From a data set of 80 individual data and the concentration and rate of C _r and fumonisins (FB₁, partially hydrolysed FB₁ and aminopentol) in the chymus, it could be established that the accumulative absorption of fumonisin B₁ was 3.9% ± 0.7%. In the chymus, the FB₁ conversions into aminopentol and partially hydrolysed FB₁ were 1.0 and 3.9%, respectively. The degree of metabolism in faeces was variable, although the main product was the partially hydrolysed form, with very small amounts of the aminopentol moiety being recovered. In the investigated tissues the FB₁ conversion to aminopentol and partially hydrolysed FB₁ was 30 and 20%, respectively.

Keywords:

• Fumonisin
• metabolites
• biotransformation
• absorption
• lipid peroxidation

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the Office of Supported Research Institutions of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (Project No. 2006TKI117), the Ministry of Education (NKFP 4/024/2004) and by the Hungarian Scholarship Board (HSB) and Deutscher Akademischer Austausch Dienst (DAAD) project (HSB-DAAD 2006/7/4). The authors wish to thank Dr Stephen M. Poling (USA) for providing the partially hydrolysed fumonisin B₁ standard. The authors thank Dr András Szabó (University of Kaposvár, Hungary) for professional advice.