Impact of deoxynivalenol (DON) contaminated feed on intestinal integrity and immune response in swine

Martin Lessard,Christian Savard,Karine Deschene,Karoline Lauzon,Vicente A Pinilla,Carl A Gagnon,Jérôme Lapointe,Frédéric Guay,Younès Chorfi

doi:10.1016/j.fct.2015.02.013

Martin Lessard, Christian Savard + Show 7 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fct.2015.02.013

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Abstract

This study was performed to characterize the influence of consuming DON naturally contaminated feeds on pig's intestinal immune defenses, antibody response and cellular immunity. Sixteen 4-week-old piglets were randomly allocated to two dietary treatments: control diet or diet contaminated with 3.5 mg DON/kg. At days 7 and 21, animals were immunized with ovalbumin (OVA). On day 42, intestinal samples were collected for measurement of gene expression involved in immune response, oxidative status and barrier function. Primary IgG antibody response to OVA was increased in pigs fed DON diet compared to control animals. In the ileum of pigs fed DON diet, claudin, occludin, and vimentin genes involved in integrity and barrier function were down-regulated compared to controls. Results also revealed that expression of two chemokines (IL-8, CXCL10), interferon-γ, and major antioxidant glutathione peroxidase 2 (GPX-2) were up-regulated whereas expression of genes encoding enzymatic antioxidants including GPX-3, GPX-4 and superoxide dismutase 3 (SOD-3) were down-regulated in pigs fed DON-contaminated diet. These results strongly suggest that ingestion of DON naturally contaminated feed impaired intestinal barrier and immunological functions by modulating expression of genes coding for proteins involved in tight junctions, tissue remodelling, inflammatory reaction, oxidative stress reaction and immune response.

Highlights

Deoxynivalenol (DON), known as vomitoxin, is a type B trichothecenes mainly produced by Fusarium fungi
Using the pig as model, the purpose of this study was to characterize the in vivo consequences of consuming DON contaminated feeds on intestinal immune defenses by measuring the modulation of mRNA expression of cytokines, chemokines, enzymes involved in oxidative stress response, tight junction proteins and antimicrobial peptide
DON effect on growth performance of piglets showed that serum concentration of C-reactive protein (CRP) was significantly reduced (p = 0.02) in pigs fed DON naturallycontaminated diet for 28 days compared to pigs fed uncontaminated diet (Fig. 2)

Summary

Introduction

Deoxynivalenol (DON), known as vomitoxin, is a type B trichothecenes mainly produced by Fusarium fungi. DON is found in wheat and corn (Calvo, 2005) and is among the most commonly encountered mycotoxins throughout the world (Pestka and Smolinski, 2005). American Council for Agricultural Science and Technology (CAST) (CAST, 2003) estimated that mycotoxins affect 25% of the world’s cereal production, including many basic foodstuffs and animal feed. Because it can affect animal productivity, human health and international trade, DON is still a major problem for the food industry. Animals present different levels of sensitivity to DON and swine are the most affected among farm animals (Prelusky et al, 1994)

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