Abstract
One of the most important hoof diseases is laminitis. Yet, the pathology of laminitis is not fully understood. Different bacterial toxins, e.g. endotoxins or exotoxins, seem to play an important role. Additionally, ingestion of mycotoxins, toxic secondary metabolites of fungi, might contribute to the onset of laminitis. In this respect, fumonsins are of special interest since horses are regarded as species most susceptible to this group of mycotoxins. The aim of our study was to investigate the influence of fumonisin B1 (FB1) on primary isolated epidermal and dermal hoof cells, as well as on the lamellar tissue integrity and sphingolipid metabolism of hoof explants in vitro. There was no effect of FB1 at any concentration on dermal or epidermal cells. However, FB1 significantly reduced the separation force of explants after 24 h of incubation. The Sa/So ratio was significantly increased in supernatants of explants incubated with FB1 (2.5–10 µg/mL) after 24 h. Observed effects on Sa/So ratio were linked to significantly increased sphinganine concentrations. Our study showed that FB1 impairs the sphingolipid metabolism of explants and reduces lamellar integrity at non-cytotoxic concentrations. FB1 might, therefore, affect hoof health. Further in vitro and in vivo studies are necessary to elucidate the effects of FB1 on the equine hoof in more detail.
Highlights
Hoof related diseases are a common cause of lameness in horses [1]
In addition to lamellar tissue integrity, we evaluated the influence of fumonisin B1 (FB1) on sphingolipid metabolism in explants
We measured a significantly increased sphinganine to sphingosine (Sa/So) ratio in supernatants of explants treated with FB1 (0.5–10 μg/mL)
Summary
Hoof related diseases are a common cause of lameness in horses [1]. One of those diseases is laminitis, which causes severe damage of the lamellar tissue and detachment of the pedal bone.The pathology of laminitis is yet not fully understood and bacterial toxins, such as endotoxins [2,3] or exotoxins [4,5], are discussed to play an important role. Hoof related diseases are a common cause of lameness in horses [1]. One of those diseases is laminitis, which causes severe damage of the lamellar tissue and detachment of the pedal bone. The pathology of laminitis is yet not fully understood and bacterial toxins, such as endotoxins [2,3] or exotoxins [4,5], are discussed to play an important role. Ergovaline, a mycotoxin produced by endophyte-infected fescues, negatively affects hoof health in vitro [6] and in vivo [7,8] by vasoconstriction. No information on the effects of other mycotoxins on the equine hoof is available
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