Assessment of Human Exposure to Five Alternaria Mycotoxins in China by Biomonitoring Approach.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Fan K
PROVIDER: S-EPMC8625692 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:The extensive exposure to multiple mycotoxins has been demonstrated in many countries; however, realistic assessments of the risks related to cumulative exposure are limited. This biomonitoring study was conducted to investigate exposure to 23 mycotoxins/metabolites and their determinants in 227 adults (aged 20-88 years) in the Yangtze River Delta, China. Eight mycotoxins were detected in 110 urine samples, and multiple mycotoxins co-occurred in 51/227 (22.47%) of urine samples, with deoxynivalenol (DON), fumonisin B1 (FB1), and zearalenone (ZEN) being the most frequently occurring. For single mycotoxin risk assessment, FB1, ZEN, aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), and ochratoxin A (OTA) all showed potential adverse effects. However, for the 12 samples containing DON and ZEN, in which none had a hazard risk, the combination of both mycotoxins in two samples was considered to pose potential endocrine disrupting risks to humans by hazard index (HI) method. The combined margin of exposure (MOET) for AFB1 and FB1 could constitute a potential health concern, and AFB1 was the main contributor. Our approach provides a blueprint for evaluating the cumulative risks related to different types of mycotoxins and opens a new horizon for the accurate interpretation of epidemiological health outcomes related to multi-mycotoxin exposure.
| S-EPMC7912756 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Alternaria mycotoxins are a class of important, agriculture-related hazardous materials, and their contamination in ruminant feeds and products might bring severe toxic effects to animals and even human beings. To control these hazardous compounds, a reliable and sensitive LC-MS/MS (liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry) method was established for simultaneous determination of six target Alternaria mycotoxins in ruminant feeds, including ALT (Altenuene), AME (Alternariol Monomethyl Ether), AOH (Alternariol), ATX-Ι (Altertoxins I), TeA (Tenuazonic Acid), and TEN (Tentoxin). This developed analytical method was used for the determination of the presence of these substances in cattle and sheep feeds in Xinjiang Province, China. The results revealed that Alternaria mycotoxins are ubiquitously detected in feed samples. Especially, AME, AOH, TeA, and TEN are the most frequently found mycotoxins with a positive rate over 40% and a concentration range of 4~551 µg/kg. The proposed method could be applied for exposure investigation of Alternaria mycotoxins in ruminant feeds and for the reduction in the health risk to animals and even consumers.
| S-EPMC10467096 | biostudies-literature
Project description:This study presents the exposure scenario to mycotoxins of adult population throughout Europe. The urinary biomarkers values were obtained by modelling data from two European projects. Exposure to AFB1, OTA, CIT, FBs, DON, NIV and T2/HT2 are presented. The main output obtained refers to a concern for public health about AFM1, FBs, T2/HT2 and NIV, and low concern for OTA, DON and CIT. The margin of exposure for AFM1 did not respect the reference value of 10,000 considered of low priority for risk; for Fusarium toxins, FBs and T2/HT2, probable daily intake (PDI) values resulted about ten times higher than their tolerable daily intake and NIV presented the most critical situation with a calculated PDI 30 times higher than the reference TDI value. North and South Europe scenarios were also depicted by clustering biomonitoring data. OTA and DON showed to be prevalent in Northern countries and the opposite was noticed for ZEN, higher in Southern countries. The critical issues of the availability of records feeding the dataset and of the accuracy of excretion rate for some mycotoxins are source of uncertainty for the reliability of the outputs, nevertheless the time is ripe for asking for more concrete HBM values and/or HBM-HBGV which would help in interpreting the burden of mycotoxins in Europe.
| S-EPMC8537926 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Occurrence of toxigenic molds and mycotoxins on dried fruits is a worldwide problem, but limited information is available in China. A total of 220 dried fruits (raisins, dried apricots, dates and wolfberries) purchased from China were analyzed for 17 mycotoxins (i.e., Alternaria toxins, ochratoxin A (OTA), patulin (PAT) and trichothecenes) by UPLC-MS/MS, combined with a single-step cleanup. The result showed that at least one mycotoxin was detected in 142 samples (64.6%). The lowest incidence of contaminated samples was observed in dried apricots (48.2%), and the highest incidence in dried wolfberries (83.3%). The Alternaria toxins seemed to be the major problem in dried fruits, rather than OTA or PAT. Tenuazonic acid (TeA) was the predominant mycotoxin, in both frequency and concentration, ranging from 6.9 to 5665.3 μg kg-1, followed by tentoxin (TEN; 20.5%), and mycophenolic acid (MPA; 19.5%). Moreover, raisins are more likely to be contaminated with OTA than the other dried fruits. Penicillic acid (PA) was detected only in dried dates, and PAT was detected only in one apricot sample. In addition, our results also showed that the simultaneous presence of 2-4 mycotoxins was observed in 31.4% of dried fruits. TeA and TEN were the most frequent combination, detected in 29 (13.2%) samples, followed by TeA and MPA with a prevalence of 11.4%. Therefore, the results of this survey suggest the need for wider monitoring on the contamination of these mycotoxins, especially Alternaria toxins in agro-products, and indicate the importance of setting a maximum limit for Alternaria toxins in China.
| S-EPMC5535147 | biostudies-literature
Project description:This manuscript reviews the state-of-the-art regarding human biological monitoring (HBM) of mycotoxins in plasma serum and blood samples. After a comprehensive and systematic literature review, with a focus on the last five years, several aspects were analyzed and summarized: a) the biomarkers analyzed and their encountered levels, b) the analytical methodologies developed and c) the relationship between biomarker levels and some illnesses. In the literature reviewed, aflatoxin B1-lysine (AFB1-lys) and ochratoxin A (OTA) in plasma and serum were the most widely studied mycotoxin biomarkers for HBM. Regarding analytical methodologies, a clear increase in the development of methods for the simultaneous determination of multiple mycotoxins has been observed. For this purpose, the use of liquid chromatography (LC) methodologies, especially when coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) or high resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS), has grown. A high percentage of the samples analyzed for OTA or aflatoxin B1 (mostly as AFB1-lys) in the reviewed papers were positive, demonstrating human exposure to mycotoxins. This review confirms the importance of mycotoxin human biomonitoring and highlights the important challenges that should be faced, such as the inclusion of other mycotoxins in HBM programs, the need to increase knowledge of mycotoxin metabolism and toxicokinetics, and the need for reference materials and new methodologies for treating samples. In addition, guidelines are required for analytical method validation, as well as equations to establish the relationship between human fluid levels and mycotoxin intake.
| S-EPMC7150965 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Humans are exposed to mycotoxins on a regular basis. Exposure to a mixture of mycotoxins may, therefore, result in a combination of adverse effects, or trigger the same effects. This should be accounted for when assessing the combined risk of multiple mycotoxins. Here, we show the outcome of using different approaches in assessing the risks related to the combined exposure to mycotoxins. We performed a tiered approach using assessment groups with a common target organ (kidney, liver and haematologic system), or a common adverse effect (phenomenon) (reduced white blood cell count), to combine the exposure to mycotoxins. The combined exposure was calculated for the individuals in this assessment, using the Monte Carlo Risk Assessment (MCRA) tool. The risk related to this combined exposure was assessed using toxicological reference values, e.g., health based guidance values. We show that estimating the combined risk by adding the single compounds' risk distributions slightly overestimates the combined risk in the 95th percentile, as compared to combining the exposures at an individual level. We also show that relative potency factors can be used to refine the mixture risk assessment, as compared to ratios of toxicological reference values with different effect sizes and assessment factors.
| S-EPMC9145316 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Type II DNA-topoisomerases (topo II) play a crucial role in the maintenance of DNA topology. Previously, fungi of the Alternaria genus were found to produce mycotoxins that target human topo II. These results implied the question why a fungus should produce secondary metabolites that target a human enzyme. In the current work, the homology between human topo II and its bacterial equivalent, gyrase, served as basis to study a potential dual inhibition of both enzymes by mycotoxins. A total of 15 secondary metabolites produced by fungi of the genera Alternaria and Fusarium were assessed for their impact on topo II of human and bacterial origin in the decatenation and the supercoiling assay, respectively. In line with the theory of dual topo II inhibition, six of the tested Alternaria mycotoxins were active against both enzymes, the dibenzo-α-pyrones alternariol (AOH) and alternariol monomethyl ether (AME), as well as the perylene-quinones altertoxin I (ATX I) and II (ATX II), alterperylenol (ALP) and stemphyltoxin III (STTX III). The Alternaria metabolites altersetin (ALN), macrosporin (MAC), altenusine (ALS) and pyrenophorol (PYR) impaired the function of human topo II, but did not show any effect on gyrase. The potency to inhibit topo II activity declined in the row STTX III (initial inhibitory concentration 10 µM) > AOH (25 µM) = AME (25 µM) = ALS (25 µM) = ATX II (25 µM) > ALN (50 µM) = ATX I (50 µM) > ALP (75 µM) = PYR (75 µM) > MAC (150 µM). Inhibition of gyrase activity was most pronounced for AOH and AME (initial inhibitory concentration 10 µM) followed by ATX II (25 µM) > ATX I = ALP = STTX III (50 µM). In contrast, none of the investigated Fusarium mycotoxins deoxynivalenol (DON), fumonisin B1, fusarin C and moniliformin, as well as the Alternaria metabolite tentoxin, had any impact on the activity of neither human nor bacterial topo II.
| S-EPMC5364253 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Cereal-based products, nuts and dried fruits are staple foods for the Algerian population. However, these foodstuffs may be sources of harmful mycotoxins, with negative impacts on human health. The purpose of this study was to investigate the occurrences and levels of aflatoxins (B1, B2, G1 and G2), ochratoxin A (OTA), deoxynivalenol (DON) and zearalenone (ZEA) in 198 samples of nuts, dried fruits and cereal products commercialized in Algeria, as well as to calculate the estimated daily intakes (EDIs). Aflatoxins were found in 26.2% of the nut samples (in peanuts and almonds, but not in walnuts), 38.7% of the dried fruit samples (in dried figs, dates and bradj pastries) and 47.9% of the cereal-based products (in rechta noodles and metlou bread, but not in couscous), with mean concentrations ranging from 0.03 to 0.49 μg/kg. OTA occurred in 16.9% of the cereal-based samples, averaging 0.15 μg/kg, but it was not detected in nuts or dried fruits. The incidence of DON in the cereal-based products was 85.9% on average, with a mean concentration from 90 to 123 μg/kg. ZEA mycotoxin was not detected in any samples. Four peanut samples exceeded the EU maximum level for aflatoxin B1 set at 2 μg/kg, while three of them surpassed the maximum level for the sum of aflatoxins (4 μg/kg). Traditional foods such as bradj, rechta and metlou were significant sources of aflatoxins, with MOE (margin of exposure) values ranging from 648 to 9333, indicating a potential risk for the Algerian population.
| S-EPMC10467145 | biostudies-literature
Project description:A multi-mycotoxin LC-MS/MS method was developed to quantify 13 free and modified Alternaria toxins in different beer types by applying a combination of stable-isotope dilution assays (SIDAs) and matrix-matched calibration. With limits of detection (LODs) between 0.03 µg/L (alternariol monomethyl ether, AME) and 5.48 µg/L (altenuene, ALT), limits of quantitation (LOQs) between 0.09 µg/L (AME) and 16.24 µg/L (ALT), and recoveries between 72 and 113%, we obtained a sensitive and reliable method, which also covers the emerging toxins alternariol-3-glucoside (AOH-3-G), alternariol-9-glucoside (AOH-9-G), alternariol monomethyl ether-3-glucoside (AME-3-G) and alternariol-3-sulfate (AOH-3-S) and alternariol monomethylether-3-sulfate (AME-3-S). Furthermore, 50 different beer samples were analyzed, showing no contamination with Alternaria toxins apart from tenuazonic acid (TeA) in concentrations between 0.69 µg/L and 16.5 µg/L. According to this study, the exposure towards TeA through beer consumption can be considered as relatively low, as the threshold of toxicological concern (TTC) value of 1500 ng/kg body weight per day might not be reached when consuming reasonable amounts of beer.
| S-EPMC8163686 | biostudies-literature
Project description:A risk assessment (RA) was conducted to estimate the risk associated with methylmercury (MeHg) exposure of vulnerable European populations, using Human Biomonitoring (HBM) data. This RA was performed integrating published data from European HBM surveys and earlier EFSA approaches (EFSA 2012). Children/adolescents (3 to 17 years old) and women of childbearing age (18 to 50 years old) were selected as relevant study population groups for this RA. Two types of HBM datasets were selected: HBM studies (n = 18) with mercury (Hg) levels (blood and hair, total Hg and/or MeHg) in the general population in different EU countries and the DEMOCOPHES harmonized study in child-mother pairs (hair, total Hg) in 17 EU countries as a reference. Two approaches were included in the RA strategy: the first one was based on estimations of the fraction of children/adolescents and women of childbearing age, respectively, from the EU general population exceeding the HBM-I value established by the German Human Biomonitoring Commission, measured as Hazard Quotients (HQ); and the second approach was based on estimations of the fraction of the two population groups exceeding the Tolerable Weekly Intake (TWI) (or their equivalent to Tolerable Daily Intake (TDI)) defined by EFSA in 2012. The HQ approach showed that for both groups, the risk varies across EU countries and that some EU areas are close to or exceeding the exposure guidance values. This is the case of Spain and Portugal, which showed the highest HQ (GM and/or P95), probably due to their higher fish consumption. Results from the EFSA approach show that hair values of children/adolescents and women of childbearing age (both in selected HBM studies and in DEMOCOPHES study) are below the TDI of 1.9 µg/g; therefore, in general, the European population does not exceed the daily average/intake dose for MeHg and/or Hg. A possible risk underestimation was identified in our assessment since for many studies no data on P95 were available, causing loss of relevant information for risk characterization on the upper bound. In addition, data from other European countries also with high seafood consumption, such as France, Greece or Iceland, were not available. For this reason, further RA refinement is needed with harmonized and more widespread HBM data to account for differences in European exposure and associated risks, so that interventions to protect vulnerable citizens, can be applied.
| S-EPMC9416112 | biostudies-literature