Abstract
Following intramuscular injections of 0.1 mL, 3 mg kg−1 BW−1(1/10 LD50) T-2 toxin (T-2), the tissue concentration of T-2 in shrimp was quantitatively detected using LC-MS/MS. The biological half-time (t1/2) of T-2 in blood was 40.47 ± 0.24 min. The highest number of intramuscular T-2 shrimp could tolerate when given at blood t1/2 intervals was 4. The shrimps which were injected 5 T-2 died. The T-2 toxin highest accumulation was 0.471 ± 0.012 ng g−1 BW−1. The effect of toxic shrimp muscle subjected to different processing conditions (high pressure, trifluoroacetic acid, acid and alkali digestions, artificial digestive juice [to simulate exposure to gastric and intestinal juices]) on mouse macrophage cells (RAW267.4) were evaluated by the MTT assay. The inhibition ratio of 2% muscle extract on RAW267.4 was 85.70 ± 2.63%. The immunocytotoxicity of muscle extracts to RAW264.7 was highest in muscle extracts subjected to physical and chemical digestion (high pressure > NaOH > trifluoroacetic acid > 0.02 M HCl > 0.2 M HCl > controls), and also artificial digestion (artificial intestinal juice > artificial gastric juice > N type intestinal juice > N type gastric liquid > controls). Results showed that high-pressure and artificial intestinal juice were most effective in the release of modified T-2 to free T-2 thus enhancing toxicity. These results can be interpreted as measurement of T-2 in food being of little value because of enhanced toxicity of T-2-contaminated food as they pass through the gastrointestinal tract.
Declaration of interest
This study was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (Nos. 31171634, 31371777, and 31200014).