Deoxynivalenol Exposure Assessment for Pregnant Women in Bangladesh.

Nurshad Ali,Abdullah Al Nahid,Meinolf Blaszkewicz,Gisela Degen,Mustafizur Rahman

doi:10.3390/toxins7103845

Abstract

The trichothecene mycotoxin deoxynivalenol (DON) is a contaminant of crops worldwide and known to cause adverse health effects in exposed animals and humans. A small survey reported the presence of DON in maize samples in Bangladesh, but these data are insufficient to assess human exposure, and also, biomonitoring data are still scarce. The present study applied biomarker analysis to investigate the DON exposure of pregnant women in Bangladesh. Urine samples were collected from pregnant women living in a rural (n = 32) and in a suburban (n = 22) area of the country. Urines were subjected to enzymatic hydrolysis of glucuronic acid conjugates and to immunoaffinity column clean-up prior to LC-MS/MS analysis of DON and its de-epoxy metabolite DOM-1. The limits of detection (LOD) for DON and DOM-1 in urine were 0.16 ng/mL and 0.10 ng/mL, respectively. DOM-1 was not detected in any of the urines, whilst DON was detectable in 52% of the samples at levels ranging from 0.18–7.16 ng/mL and a mean DON concentration of 0.86 ± 1.57 ng/mL or 2.14 ± 4.74 ng/mg creatinine. A significant difference in mean urinary DON levels was found between the rural (0.47 ± 0.73 ng/mL) and suburban (1.44 ± 2.20 ng/mL) cohort, which may be related to different food habits in the two cohorts. Analysis of food consumption data for the participants did not show significant correlations between their intake of typical staple foods and DON levels in urine. The biomarker concentrations found and published urinary excretion rates for DON were used to estimate daily mycotoxin intake in the cohort: the mean DON intake was 0.05 µg/kg b.w., and the maximum intake was 0.46 µg/kg b.w., values lower than the tolerable daily intake of 1 µg/kg b.w. These first results indicate a low dietary exposure of pregnant women in Bangladesh to DON. Nonetheless, further biomonitoring studies in children and in adult cohorts from other parts of the country are of interest to gain more insight into DON exposure in the population of Bangladesh.

Highlights

Deoxynivalenol (DON) is a trichothecene mycotoxin produced by Fusarium species, mainly
DON is a concern for human health, and exposure early in life is of special interest in light of the following: DON transfer via the placenta to the fetus occurs in sows [9], and maternal exposure has been linked to growth retardation [10] and immunosuppression in the offspring [11]
The limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) were determined based on the lowest quantity of analyte that can be clearly distinguished from the background (LOD; signal to noise ratio, S/N = 3) or quantified (LOQ; S/N ≥ 6)

Summary

Introduction

Deoxynivalenol (DON) is a trichothecene mycotoxin produced by Fusarium species, mainlyF. graminearum and F. culmorum, and the most frequently-detected mycotoxin contaminant of maize, wheat and barley in temperate regions of the world [1,2]. Consumption of DON-contaminated feed has been associated with a number of adverse effects in animals, including feed refusal, vomiting, diarrhea, dizziness and fever, and chronic exposure to DON can lead to growth faltering, immunological and neurological dysfunction [3,4]. DON is a concern for human health, and exposure early in life is of special interest in light of the following: DON transfer via the placenta to the fetus occurs in sows [9], and maternal exposure has been linked to growth retardation [10] and immunosuppression in the offspring [11]. Since DON has been shown to cross the human placenta, dietary exposure during pregnancy will lead to DON exposure of the fetus, whose detoxification mechanisms are not yet well developed [12]

Methods

Results

Conclusion