Aflatoxins are fungal metabolites found in feeds and foods. When the ruminants eat feedstuffs containing Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), this toxin is metabolized and Aflatoxin M1 (AFM1) is excreted in milk. International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified AFB1 and AFM1 as human carcinogens belonging to Group 1 and Group 2B, respectively, with the formation of DNA adducts. In the last years, some epidemiological studies were conducted on cancer patients aimed to evaluate the effects of AFB1 and AFM1 exposure on cancer cells in order to verify the correlation between toxin exposure and cancer cell proliferation and invasion. In this review, we summarize the activation pathways of AFB1 and AFM1 and the data already reported in literature about their correlation with cancer development and progression. Moreover, considering that few data are still reported about what genes/proteins/miRNAs can be used as damage markers due to AFB1 and AFM1 exposure, we performed a bioinformatic analysis based on interaction network and miRNA predictions to identify a panel of genes/proteins/miRNAs that can be used as targets in further studies for evaluating the effects of the damages induced by AFB1 and AFM1 and their capacity to induce cancer initiation.

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A staining procedure used for simultaneously determining three different fibre types in single sections bovine, porcine or ovine skeletal muscle was modified for use with ostrich skeletal muscle. The muscle fibres of gastrocnemius pars externa, tibialis cranialis caput tibiale, tibialis cranialis caput femorale and fibularis longus tendo caudalis were studied. The histochemical results revealed the presence of three types of fibre only in the gastrocnemius pars externa muscle: fast-twitch glycolytic fibres (FG), fast-twitch oxidative glycolytic fibres (FOG) and slow-twitch oxidative fibres (SO), while in the other muscles the FG fibres were absent. The percentage distribution of fibres types showed a higher incidence of SO fibres compared to FOG fibres in tibialis cranialis caput femorale and tibialis cranialis caput tibiale muscles, while it was opposite in the case of the fibularis longus tendo caudalis muscle. In the gastrocnemius pars externa muscle the FG fibres outnumber the other fibres, followed by the SO and FOG fibres. The results of the analysis of variance show significant interaction between muscle x fibre type for every morphometric parameter evaluated. Differences about value of fibres area exists between tibialis cranialis caput femorale and fibularis longus tendo caudalis muscles. Both fibre types in tibialis cranialis caput tibiale muscle have mean values of transversal section area smaller than tibialis cranialis caput femorale. The other morphometric parameters show a similar trend. The gastrocnemius pars externa muscle presents similar dimensions of muscle fibres for the FG and FOG types, and significantly smaller for the SO type.

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