Abstract
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of corn naturally contaminated with aflatoxin B1 and aflatoxin B2 on pathological lesions, apoptosis, cell cycle phases and T lymphocyte subsets of spleen, and to provide an experimental basis for understanding the mechanism of aflatoxin-induced immunosuppression. A total of 900 COBB500 male broilers were randomly allocated into five groups with six replicates per group and 30 birds per replicate. The experiment lasted for 6 weeks and the five dietary treatments consisted of control, 25% contaminated corn, 50% contaminated corn, 75% contaminated corn and 100% contaminated corn groups. The histopathological spleen lesions from the contaminated corn groups was characterized as congestion of red pulp, increased necrotic cells and vacuoles in the splenic corpuscle and periarterial lymphatic sheath. The contaminated corn intake significantly increased relative weight of spleen, percentages of apoptotic splenocytes, induced cell cycle arrest of splenocytes, increased the percentages of CD3+CD8+ T cells and decreased the ratios of CD3+CD4+ to CD3+CD8+. The results suggest that AFB-induced immunosuppression maybe closely related to the lesions of spleen.
Highlights
Mycotoxins are secondary toxic fungal metabolites which cause important health problems in human and animals [1]
aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) 22 is commonly found along with AFB2 in corn in the southwest of China, so the objectives of this study were to evaluate the pathological lesion, apoptosis and T cell subsets of spleen in broilers fed on corn naturally contaminated with AFB1 and AFB2
The results showed that naturally contaminated corn used in the diet was mainly contaminated with AFB1 and AFB2
Summary
Mycotoxins are secondary toxic fungal metabolites which cause important health problems in human and animals [1]. Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) is the predominant form, which presents the highest hepatotoxic and carcinogenic effects [2] and is classified as a Group I carcinogen to humans by the International Agency for Research on Cancer [3]. The toxic and carcinogenic effects of AFB1 are closely linked with its biotransformation [4]. The active intermediate, AFB1-exo-8, 9-epoxide, can bind with DNA to form the predominant trans-8, 9-dihydro-8-(N7-guanyl)-9-hydroxy-AFB1. (AFB1-N7-Gua) adduct which causes DNA lesions [5]. Previous studies proved that aflatoxins had a range of negative effects on poultry health. Besides carcinogenic effects [6], acute or chronic aflatoxicosis in poultry birds results in poor performance [7], immunosuppression, and increased susceptibility to disease [6,8]
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