Abstract
In the past decades, many studies have examined the nature of the interaction between mycotoxins in biological models classifying interaction effects as antagonisms, additive effects, or synergisms based on a comparison of the observed effect with the expected effect of combination. Among several described mathematical models, the arithmetic definition of additivity and factorial analysis of variance were the most commonly used in mycotoxicology. These models are incorrectly based on the assumption that mycotoxin dose-effect curves are linear. More appropriate mathematical models for assessing mycotoxin interactions include Bliss independence, Loewe’s additivity law, combination index, and isobologram analysis, Chou-Talalays median-effect approach, response surface, code for the identification of synergism numerically efficient (CISNE) and MixLow method. However, it seems that neither model is ideal. This review discusses the advantages and disadvantages of these mathematical models.
Highlights
Mycotoxins are secondary metabolites mainly produced by fungi belonging to the genera of Aspergillus, Penicillium, or Fusarium [1]
Kademi et al [14] developed a mathematical model using a system of ordinary differential equations to describe the dynamics of AFs from plants to animals, plants to humans, and animals to humans which showed that the entire dynamics depends on the numerical values of the threshold quantity defined as R01 and R02
Using the data on cytotoxicity of OTA alone of the mentioned paper, it is easy to see that using this method we can prove that OTA applied in combination with itself at concentrations of 5 μM and 5 μM revealed an antagonistic effect; the expected cell viability would be around 20%, while the observed value for cell viability after treatment with 10 μM ochratoxin A was around 50% (Figure 1)
Summary
Mycotoxins are secondary metabolites mainly produced by fungi belonging to the genera of Aspergillus, Penicillium, or Fusarium [1]. Kademi et al [14] developed a mathematical model using a system of ordinary differential equations to describe the dynamics of AFs from plants (feeds) to animals, plants (plant foods) to humans, and animals to humans (carry-over effects) which showed that the entire dynamics depends on the numerical values of the threshold quantity defined as R01 and R02 (e.g., if R01 < 1 and R02 < 1 AF concentrations in animals and plants will not reach toxic limit and vice versa). In the studies conducted in the last four years (Tables 1 and 2) the interactions between mycotoxins in vitro were evaluated using more appropriate mathematical models than the arithmetic definition of additivity
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