The Harm of Mycotoxin in Feed and the Protective Effect of Antioxidants on Animals

Ubiquitous in feed and feed raw materials, it is a secondary metabolite produced by mold in feed and feed raw materials during the growth and development process, causing serious harm to animal husbandry production and human health. More than 300 mycotoxins have been isolated and identified so far.
At present, the mycotoxins that are more common in feed and have serious effects on animals mainly include aflatoxin, ochratoxin, zearalenone, T-2 toxin, and vomitoxin. So what are the dangers of these toxins?
1
Aflatoxin is a toxic carcinogen produced by Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus. Aflatoxin B1 is the most common and the most toxic. Aflatoxin has serious damage to animal livers and is highly toxic and carcinogenic.
Moreover, it will inhibit the immune function of animals, reduce animal production performance, cause secondary infection and even death.
2.
Ochratoxin (OTA) is a toxic compound mainly produced by fungi of the genus Aspergillus and Penicillium. It has nephrotoxicity, hepatotoxicity, immunosuppression, teratogenicity and carcinogenicity. It mainly affects the liver and kidney of animals.
May cause immunosuppression, tissue damage, a large amount of ochratoxin may cause intestinal mucosal inflammation and necrosis in animals.
3
Zearalenone (ZEN), a mycotoxin produced by Fusarium fungi, has estrogen-like effects and mainly acts on the reproductive system, causing hyperestrogenism in livestock and poultry, which can cause premature puberty, Ovarian atrophy, prolonged estrus cycle, persistent corpus luteum, false estrus, miscarriage, return to estrus, and other reproductive abnormalities; male animals showed feminization phenomena such as mammary gland enlargement, nipple enlargement, prepuce hydrops, and testicular atrophy. Consumption of feed containing zearalenone in pregnant animals can cause abortion, stillbirth and teratogenicity.
4
T-2 toxin is a trichothecene toxin compound produced by a variety of fungi, mainly Fusarium trilineum, which can act as a protein biosynthesis inhibitor, neurotoxin, immunosuppressive factor or nephrotoxin in animals. Effect, the body can cause acute and chronic symptoms after ingestion.
Poisoned pigs showed symptoms such as food refusal, vomiting, lack of energy, staggering gait, inflammation and necrosis of the skin around the lips and nose, salivation, diarrhea and hemorrhagic gastroenteritis. Pigs with chronic poisoning are stunted in growth and development, accompanied by symptoms such as chronic dyspepsia and aplastic anemia.
5
Vomitoxin is a B-type trichothecene toxin produced by Fusarium graminearum and Fusarium stalk. Pigs eat feed contaminated with vomitoxin, which can cause vomiting, teeth grinding, anxiety, and flow in pigs. Toxic reactions such as saliva and gastrointestinal bleeding lead to a significant decrease in pig food intake and severely inhibit its growth and development.
Detoxification treatment
At present, the methods of detoxification treatment of mycotoxins include: physical adsorption, biological detoxification, chemical detoxification, and application of mold removal agents, etc. Among them, composite mold removal and use of mold removal agents are widely used, and most of them are currently related to Antioxidants are used together.
Protective effects
So what are the protective effects of antioxidants on animals? Vitamins with antioxidant activity are currently the most studied for detoxification, such as vitamin A, vitamin E, vitamin C, carotene, etc. Among them, VE has strong antioxidant activity and the detoxification effect is more obvious.
In vitro studies have shown that adding antioxidants (β-carotene, ascorbic acid, selenium, vitamin E, etc.) to the diet can effectively reduce the effect of AFB1 on liver cancer in rats (Nyandieka et al., 1990); Inhibit the damage effect of AFB1 on rat liver DNA (Gradelet et al., 1998); β-carotene and zebra yellow can inhibit the effect of AFB1 on broiler growth (Okotie et al., 1997); vitamin C can reduce the effect of AFB1 on guinea pigs ( Netke et al., 1997).
Vitamins not only inhibit the toxic effect of aflatoxins, but also have significant inhibitory effects on other common toxins. Grosse et al. (1997) reported that retinol, ascorbic acid and α-tocopherol significantly reduced the production of OTA and ZEN DNA adducts in mouse liver and kidney. Atroshi et al. (1995) also pointed out that selenium, vitamin E, and vitamin C can be used as antioxidants to protect the spleen and brain cell membranes from the damage of T-2 toxin and DON; vitamin E, selenium and other oxidants can inhibit the effect of FB1 on rat liver, Damage to spleen DNA (Atroshi et al., 1999).
In addition, in vitro studies on chicken hepatocytes have shown that lutein and lycopene can effectively reduce the toxicity of T-2 toxins to chicken hepatocytes (Leal et al., 1998); in vivo tests on broiler chickens also show that lycopene can reduce the toxicity of T-2 toxins. Lipid peroxidation and increased glutathione reductase activity (Leal et al., 1999).
Summary
For the mycotoxins in the feed, the application of the method of compound mold removal can greatly reduce the harm of mycotoxins to animals and humans. Only by comprehensively considering the combined effect of mycotoxins and the toxic mechanism of mycotoxins can effective detoxification be carried out.