T-2 toxin is a trichothecene mycotoxin produced when Fusarium fungi infect grains, especially oats and wheat. Ingestion of T-2 toxin contaminated grain can cause diarrhea, hemorrhaging, and feed ...refusal in livestock. Cereal crops infected with mycotoxin-producing fungi form toxin glycosides, sometimes called masked mycotoxins, which are a potential food safety concern because they are not detectable by standard approaches and may be converted back to the parent toxin during digestion or food processing. The work reported here addresses four aspects of T-2 toxin-glucosides: phytotoxicity, stability after ingestion, antibody detection, and the anomericity of the naturally occurring T-2 toxin-glucoside found in cereal plants. T-2 toxin-β-glucoside was chemically synthesized and compared to T-2 toxin-α-glucoside prepared with Blastobotrys muscicola cultures and the T-2 toxin-glucoside found in naturally contaminated oats and wheat. The anomeric forms were separated chromatographically and differ in both NMR and mass spectrometry. Both anomers were significantly degraded to T-2 toxin and HT-2 toxin under conditions that mimic human digestion, but with different kinetics and metabolic end products. The naturally occurring T-2 toxin-glucoside from plants was found to be identical to T-2 toxin-α-glucoside prepared with B. muscicola. An antibody test for the detection of T-2 toxin was not effective for the detection of T-2 toxin-α-glucoside. This anomer was produced in sufficient quantity to assess its animal toxicity.
Ochratoxin A (OTA), a mycotoxin that is of utmost concern in food and feed safety, is produced by fungal species that mainly belong to the
and
genera. The development of mitigation strategies to ...reduce OTA content along the supply chains is key to ensuring safer production of food and feed. Enzyme-based strategies are among the most promising methods due to their specificity, efficacy, and multi-situ applicability. In particular, some enzymes are already known for hydrolyzing OTA into ochratoxin alpha (OTα) and phenylalanine (Phe), eventually resulting in detoxification action. Therefore, the discovery of novel OTA hydrolyzing enzymes, along with the advancement of an innovative approach for their identification, could provide a broader basis to develop more effective mitigating strategies in the future. In the present study, a hybrid
workflow coupling virtual screening with enzymatic assays was applied in order to identify novel OTA hydrolyzing enzymes. Among the various hits, porcine carboxypeptidase B was identified for the first time as an effective OTA hydrolyzing enzyme. The successful experimental endorsement of findings of the workflow confirms that the presented strategy is suitable for identifying novel OTA hydrolyzing enzymes, and it might be relevant for the discovery of other mycotoxin- mitigating enzymes.
A fast and sensitive method for the quantification of the mycotoxin ochratoxin A (OTA) in dry-cured meat products has been developed, which does not require a clean-up step, by HPLC with an alkaline ...mobile phase (pH 9.8). Validation procedures for specificity, trueness, ruggedness, stability, recovery and repeatability were performed. The decision limit (CC
α) and the decision capability (CC
β) were calculated at 1.10 and 1.23
μg/kg, respectively. The procedure was applied to representative dehydration levels of dry-cured meat samples.
This study aims to provide information on the behaviour and biopersistence rate (BP) of metallic nanoparticles (Ag-NPs, TiO2-NPs, ZnO-NPs) naturally occurring in canned seafood and subjected to ...static in vitro digestion. Single particle ICP-MS analysis was performed to determine NPs distribution and concentrations in oral, gastric, and intestinal digests. Depending on the conditions of the digestive phase and the sample matrix, the phenomena of agglomeration and dispersion were highlighted and confirmed by Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS) technique. In standard suspensions, Ag-NPs had lower biopersistence (BP) than ZnO and TiO2-NPs (BP 34%, 89% and >100%, respectively). Among Ag-NPs and TiO2-NPs naturally present in the food matrix, those in canned tuna were more degradable than those in canned clam (BP Ag-NPs 36% vs. > 100%; BP TiO2-NPs 96% vs. > 100%), while BP ZnO-NPs showed high biopersistence in both seafood matrix (>100%). The biopersistence rates were higher than the recommended limit set by European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) (12%), referred to nanotechnologies to be applied in the food and feed chain, thus the investigated naturally occurring NPs cannot be considered readily degradable.
•This study investigates the behaviour of NPs after entering the gastrointestinal tract.•The biopersistence rate of Ag-NPs, TiO2-NPs, and ZnO-NPs was evaluated.•The phenomena of agglomeration and dispersion depend on the conditions of the digestion phase and the sample matrix.•Biopersistence rates are higher than the limit set by EFSA (12%).•NPs are stable under gastrointestinal conditions and cannot be considered as readily degradable.
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