Abstract
Analysis of body fluids and tissues of aflatoxin exposed individuals for the presence of aflatoxins and aflatoxin metabolites has emerged as a reliable indicator of exposure and metabolism of aflatoxins. However, current aflatoxin biomarkers are not appropriate for investigating the long-term effects of aflatoxin exposure. In this explorative study, we investigated the analysis of hair as a complementary or alternative matrix for the assessment of biomarkers of long-term aflatoxin exposure. Three groups of guinea pigs were orally dosed with 5 ugkg−1bw−1, 50 ugkg−1bw−1, and 100 ugkg−1bw−1 of AFB1. Urine and hair samples were collected on days 0, 1, 2, 3, 7, 30, 60, and 90 and analysed for AFB1 and AFM1 using UHPLC-MS/MS. AFB1 and AFM1 were detected in 75% and 13.6%, respectively, of the day 1 to day 7 urine samples. AFB1 was detected in hair samples collected from day 3 up to day 60. This is the first report to confirm the deposition of AFB1 in the hair of experimental animals. These findings indicate that hair analysis has the potential to provide an accurate long-term historical record of aflatoxin exposure with potentially important implications for the field of aflatoxin biomarkers.
Highlights
Analysis of body fluids and tissues of aflatoxin exposed individuals for the presence of aflatoxins and aflatoxin metabolites has emerged as a reliable indicator of exposure and metabolism of aflatoxins
There was no difference in weight gain between the test and control animals, suggesting that the aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) dosage used in this study did not affect the animals’ food conversion efficiency, meaning similar weight gain between control animals and test animals
As far as we know, this is the first report to confirm the deposition of AFB1 in the hair of experimental animals
Summary
Analysis of body fluids and tissues of aflatoxin exposed individuals for the presence of aflatoxins and aflatoxin metabolites has emerged as a reliable indicator of exposure and metabolism of aflatoxins. AFB1 was detected in hair samples collected from day 3 up to day 60 This is the first report to confirm the deposition of AFB1 in the hair of experimental animals. These findings indicate that hair analysis has the potential to provide an accurate long-term historical record of aflatoxin exposure with potentially important implications for the field of aflatoxin biomarkers. Key Contribution: We report for the first time the detection of aflatoxins in the hair of experimental animals. This method can be applied to population studies to understand aflatoxin exposure. Introduction with regard to jurisdictional claims in Aflatoxins are highly toxic and carcinogenic fungal metabolites produced mainly by the Aspergillus species that thrive in the hot and humid tropical areas of the world
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