Abstract
Immature gilts were administered per os with zearalenone (ZEN) at 40 μg/kg BW (group Z, n = 9), deoxynivalenol (DON) at 12 μg/kg BW (group D, n = 9), a mixture of ZEN and DON (group M, n = 9) or a placebo (group C, n = 9) over a period of six weeks. The pigs were sacrificed after one, three, or six weeks of the treatment (12 pigs per each time-point). Histological investigations revealed an increase in the mucosal thickness and the crypt depth as well as a decrease in the ratio of the villus height to the crypt depth in groups D and M after six weeks of exposure to the mycotoxins. The number of goblet cells in the villus epithelium was elevated in groups Z and M after one week and in group D after three weeks. The administration of ZEN increased the lymphocyte number in the villus epithelium after 1 week and the plasma cell quantity in the lamina propria after one, three, and six weeks of the experiment. DON treatment resulted in an increase in the lymphocyte number in the villus epithelium and the lamina propria after six weeks, and in the plasma cell quantity in the lamina propria after one, three, and six weeks of exposure. In group M, lymphocyte counts in the epithelium and the lamina propria increased significantly after six weeks. Neither mycotoxin induced significant adverse changes in the ultrastructure of the mucosal epithelium and the lamina propria or in the intestinal barrier permeability. Our results indicate that immune cells are the principal target of low doses of ZEN and DON.
Highlights
Zearalenone (ZEN) and deoxynivalenol (DON) are Fusarium mycotoxins that have been extensively studied because of their wide distribution in nature and their ability to cause pathological changes in animals and humans
The objective of this study was to determine the effect of low doses of ZEN and DON, administered per os for one, three, or six weeks, individually or together, on the histology and ultrastructure of the jejunum in pre-pubertal gilts
The mucosa was covered by a columnar epithelium comprising primarily absorptive enterocytes and goblet cells
Summary
Zearalenone (ZEN) and deoxynivalenol (DON) are Fusarium mycotoxins that have been extensively studied because of their wide distribution in nature and their ability to cause pathological changes in animals and humans. Several mechanisms have been proposed for biological effects of DON [11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19]. This mycotoxin acts as protein synthesis inhibitor [14,15] and, as a consequence, decreases claudin and occludin expression in epithelial cells and weakens the intestinal barrier, increasing its permeability to bacteria [12,13]. Anorexia caused by DON is a consequence of changes in various regulatory mechanisms, including the secretion of serotonin and the gut peptide YY [11,18]
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