Individual and Combined Effects of Fumonisin B₁, Deoxynivalenol and Zearalenone on the Hepatic and Renal Membrane Lipid Integrity of Rats

Abstract

(1) Background and (2) Methods: A 14-day in vivo, multitoxic (pure mycotoxins) rat experiment was conducted with zearalenone (ZEA; 15 μg/animal/day), deoxynivalenol (DON; 30 μg/animal/day) and fumonisin B₁ (FB₁; 150 μg/animal/day), as individual mycotoxins, binary (FD, FZ and DZ) and ternary combinations (FDZ), via gavage in 1 mL water boluses. (3) Results: Body weight was unaffected, while liver (ZEA↑ vs. DON) and kidney weight (ZEA↑ vs. FDZ) increased. Hepatocellular membrane lipid fatty acids (FAs) referred to ceramide synthesis disturbance (C20:0, C22:0), and decreased unsaturation (C22:5 n3 and unsat. index), mainly induced by DON and to a lesser extent by ZEA. The DON-FB₁ interaction was additive on C20:0 in liver lipids. In renal phospholipids, ZEA had the strongest effect on the FA profile, affecting the saturated (C18:0) and many n6 FAs; ZEA was in an antagonistic relationship with FB₁ (C18:0) or DON (C18:2 n6, C20:1 n9). Hepatic oxidative stress was the most expressed in FD (reduced glutathione and glutathione peroxidase), while the nephrotoxic effect was further supported by lipid peroxidation (malondialdehyde) in the DON treatment. (4) Conclusions: In vivo study results refer to multiple mycotoxin interactions on membrane FAs, antioxidants and lipid peroxidation compounds, needing further testing.

Keywords: fusariotoxins; kidney; liver; multitoxic effects; phospholipids; rat.

Figure 1

Results of the principal component analysis performed on the compositional data of the liver PL fatty acids. (a) Score plot shows the orientation of the samples belonging to the different toxin treatments (CTRL: control) in the plane of the 1st and 2nd principal components (PC1 and PC2, respectively), where PC1 and PC2 are influenced by the multivariate data of the liver PL fatty acids. PC1 and PC2 explain 58% and 31% of the total variance of the liver PL fatty acids, respectively. (b) Loading bar graph of the PC1 shows the contribution of the individual liver PL fatty acids to the newly developed latent variable: the higher the loading value, the higher impact of the variance of the respective fatty acid on the variance of PC1.

Figure 2

Results of the principal component analysis performed on the compositional data of the kidney PL fatty acids. (a) Score plot shows the orientation of the samples belonging to the different toxin treatments (CTRL: control) in the plane of the 1st and 2nd principal component (PC1 and PC2, respectively), where PC1 and PC2 is influenced by the multivariate data of the kidney PL fatty acids. PC1 and PC2 explains 86% and 6% of the total variance of the kidney PL fatty acids, respectively (circle is only a visualization aid). (b) Loading bar graph of the PC1 shows the contribution of the individual kidney PL fatty acids to the newly developed latent variable: the higher the loading value, the higher impact of the variance of the respective fatty acid on the variance of PC1.