Studies of mechanisms of diarrhea induced by fusarenon-X, a trichothecene mycotoxin from Fusarium species; the effects of fusarenon-X and various cathartics on the digestion and the absorption of the mouse intestine

Abstract

The red mold toxicosis, the major symptoms of which are diarrhea, vomiting and nausea, has been suggested to be induced by trichothecenes produced by Fusarium fungi. Fusarenon-X (F-X) is one of the trichothecene mycotoxins. In this study, we measured the blood glucose level, intestinal glucose contents and intestinal starch contents after the mouse small intestine was loaded with starch, in order to observe the effect of F-X and various cathartics on the digestive and absorptive abilities of the mouse small intestine. Mannitol, castor oil and magnesium sulfate tended to inhibit the dietary increase of blood glucose, the increase of intestinal glucose contents and the decrease of intestinal starch contents after the administration of starch. These results suggest that these cathartics may slightly inhibit the digestion or the absorption in the intestine, but their inhibitory effects seem to be too weak to induce a significant increase of osmotic pressure in the intestinal lumen. Dioctyl sodium sulfosuccinate (DSS) significantly inhibited the increase of blood glucose level, the increase of intestinal glucose contents and the decrease of intestinal starch contents after the starch administration, suggesting that DSS may induce malabsorption and maldigestion in the intestine which may be one of the factors of induction of DSS-induced diarrhea. In contrast, F-X induced no change on blood glucose level, intestinal glucose and starch contents. Therefore, F-X-induced diarrhea can not be related to the increase of osmotic pressure of the intestinal lumen which is induced by malabsorption and maldigestion. Present results support the mechanism of F-X-induced diarrhea proposed previously by us that F-X causes diarrhea through increasing the permeability of intestinal epithelium cells and resulting in the exudation of plasma contents and an eventual increase in the intestinal fluids.