Abstract
Six pregnant sows of 180.6 ± 5.6kg were fed either a Fusarium-contaminated (4.42mg DON and 48.3µg ZON per kg, DON per os, n = 3) or a control diet (0.15mg DON and 5µg ZON/kg) in the period of days 63 and 70 of gestation. On day 63 of gestation, sows fed the control diet were implanted with an intraperitoneal osmotic minipump (delivery rate of 10µL/h, for 7days) containing 50mg pure (98%) DON in 2ml 50% DMSO (DON ip, n = 3). Frequent plasma samples were taken to estimate the kinetics after oral and ip DON exposure. The intended continuous delivery of DON by the intraperitoneal minipump could not be shown, as there was a plasma peak (Cmax) of 4.2-6.4ng DON/mL either immediately (sow IP-2+3) or 2.5h (sow IP-1) after implantation of the pump followed by a one-exponential decline with a mean half-time (t1/2) of 1.75-4.0h and only negligible DON plasma concentrations after 12h. Therefore, the DON ip exposure has to be regarded as one single dose 1week before termination of experiment. The DON per os sows showed a mean basis level (after achieving a steady state) of DON plasma concentration of about 6-8ng/mL, as also indicated by the plasma DON concentration at the termination of the experiment. On day 70, caesarean section was carried out, the fetuses were killed immediately after birth, and samples of plasma, urine, and bile were taken to analyze the concentration of DON and its metabolite de-epoxy-DON. At necropsy there were no macroscopic lesions observed in any organ of either sows or piglets. Histopathological evaluation of sows liver and spleen revealed no alterations. The proliferation rate of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) with or without stimulation was not affected by the kind of DON treatment. The exposure of pregnant sows at mid-gestation (days 63-70, period of organogenesis) to a Fusarium toxin-contaminated diet (4.42mg DON and 0.048mg ZON per kg) or pure DON via intraperitoneal osmotic minipump did not cause adverse effects on health, fertility, maintenance of pregnancy, and performance of sows and their fetuses. However, DON was detected in fetus plasma, indicating that this toxin can pass the placental barrier and may cause changes in the proportion of white blood cells (lower monocyte and neutrophil and higher lymphocyte proportion in DON per os fetuses).
Published Version
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