Abstract
Aflatoxin is a major food contaminant, with adverse effects on the physiology of both humans and animals. Exposure to aflatoxins has been known to pose a great threat to both humans and animals, particularly, in the tropics, with varied pathophysiological effects. This research focused on the effects of aflatoxin BI on the pituitary-gonadal axis of pigs, an area that has not fully been investigated since most studies have dwelt on other experimental animals. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of aflatoxin B1 on follicle stimulating hormone, luteinizing hormone, testosterone, and estradiol hormone levels in reproductively mature male pigs. This research adopted an experimental design using twelve reproductively mature Large White pigs aged 7 to 9 months and of average body weight of 54 kg. The pigs were allowed to acclimatize for a period of seven days. AFB1 was obtained from Bora Biotechnology Company in Nairobi and the doses were given in three levels in the ratio of 1:2:3. The 1st treated group received 80 ppb per day, 2nd treated group received 160 ppb and the 3rd treated group received 240 ppb per day for 60 days. The control group received aflatoxin-free diet for the same study period. This was orally given as predetermined aflatoxin levels mixed with 150 g of pig finishers feed served to each pig in a separate aluminum feeding pot each in their specific experimental group. Each pig was thereafter served its daily 2 kg Unga feed in separate feeding pot. Water was also provided ad libitum. Five milliliters of blood samples were collected once every week from either the right or left ear of the pig in vacutainer tubes containing ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid (EDTA) which is an anticoagulant. Plasma samples were prepared by incubating the whole blood at room temperature for 10 to 20 min. The tubes were centrifugated for 20 min at 2,000 to 3,000 rpm. The supernatant was carefully collected and stored in a freezer at -21°C for hormonal assays. Consumption of increasingly higher doses of aflatoxin BI by pigs led to decreased levels of luteinizing hormone, testosterone and estradiol in a dose-dependent manner. The level of follicle stimulating hormone was however not significantly affected by consumption of aflatoxin BI dosages given. Key words: Aflatoxin B1, follicle stimulating hormone, luteinizing hormone, testosterone, estradiol hormone, pig.
Highlights
Aflatoxin (AF) is one of the contaminants in foods and feeds, with varying effects on the physiology of both animals and humans
The plasma levels of luteinizing hormone, testosterone and estradiol of the aflatoxin challenged groups were significantly reduced in a dose related manner compared to the control group
The results in our study agree with those of Ewuola et al (2014) who found out that goats fed higher aflatoxin levels had significantly lower testosterone levels compared to the control group
Summary
Aflatoxin (AF) is one of the contaminants in foods and feeds, with varying effects on the physiology of both animals and humans It is a mycotoxin, a secondary metabolic by-product of the toxigenic fungi mainly Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus during their natural metabolic processes (Ahmed et al, 2012). The two main Aspergillus species yield different secondary metabolites such that AFB1 and B2 are produced by A. flavus and A. parasiticus while AFG1 and G2 are produced by A. parasiticus. In this classification, “B” and “G” stand for blue and green fluorescent colors, respectively (Ajani et al, 2014). AFB1 is the most common, most toxic and a known carcinogen (Quintana et al, 2012)
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