Acute exposure to ergot alkaloids from endophyte-infected tall fescue does not alter absorptive or barrier function of the isolated bovine ruminal epithelium

Foote, Andrew P; Penner, G. B.; Walpole, M. E.; Klotz, J. L.; Brown, Kelly R.; Bush, Lowell P.; Harmon, D. L.

doi:10.1017/s1751731114001141

Cited by 10 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…However, other fungal metabolites, namely, ergot alkaloids, are detrimental to grazing livestock and are key etiological agents of fescue toxicosis (FT) (16)(17)(18)(19), a disease with an estimated $1 billion negative impact on the U.S. beef industry annually, when adjusted for inflation (20,21). FT is a complex, multisystem disease manifesting as metabolic dysregulation (22), decreased volatile fatty acid (VFA) absorption (23,24), and immune/inflammatory alterations (25)(26)(27). Other important signs of FT in grazing beef include increased respiration rates (RR) (28,29), thermoregulatory impairments (i.e., decreased ability to regulate core body temperatures [25,30]), and lowered weight gains (31).…”

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confidence: 99%

Response of Beef Cattle Fecal Microbiota to Grazing on Toxic Tall Fescue

Mote

Hill

Skarlupka

et al. 2019

Appl Environ Microbiol

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Tall fescue, the predominant southeastern United States cool-season forage grass, frequently becomes infected with an ergot alkaloid-producing toxic endophyte, Epichloë coenophialum. Consumption of endophyte-infected fescue results in fescue toxicosis (FT), a condition that lowers beef cow productivity. Limited data on the influence of ergot alkaloids on rumen fermentation profiles or ruminal bacteria that could degrade the ergot alkaloids are available, but how FT influences the grazing bovine fecal microbiota or what role fecal microbiota might play in FT etiology and associated production losses has yet to be investigated. Here, we used 16S rRNA gene sequencing of fecal samples from weaned Angus steers grazing toxic endophyte-infected (Eϩ; n ϭ 6) or nontoxic (Max-Q; n ϭ 6) tall fescue before and 1, 2, 14, and 28 days after pasture assignment. Bacteria in the Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes phyla comprised 90% of the Max-Q and Eϩ steer fecal microbiota throughout the trial. Early decreases in the Erysipelotrichaceae family and delayed increases of the Ruminococcaceae and Lachnospiraceae families were among the major effects of Eϩ grazing. Eϩ also increased abundances within the Planctomycetes, Chloroflexi, and Proteobacteria phyla and the Clostridiaceae family. Multiple operational taxonomic units classified as Ruminococcaceae and Lachnospiraceae were correlated negatively with weight gains (lower in Eϩ) and positively with respiration rates (increased by Eϩ). These data provide insights into how Eϩ grazing alters the Angus steer microbiota and the relationship of fecal microbiota dynamics with FT. IMPORTANCE Consumption of Eϩ tall fescue has an estimated annual $1 billion negative impact on the U.S. beef industry, with one driver of these costs being lowered weight gains. As global agricultural demand continues to grow, mitigating production losses resulting from grazing the predominant southeastern United States forage grass is of great value. Our investigation of the effects of Eϩ grazing on the fecal microbiota furthers our understanding of bovine fescue toxicosis in a realworld grazing production setting and provides a starting point for identifying easyto-access fecal bacteria that could serve as potential biomarkers of animal productivity and/or FT severity for tall fescue-grazing livestock.KEYWORDS Epichloë coenophialum, fescue toxicosis, beef cattle, ergot alkaloids, microbiome, tall fescue C ulture-independent next-generation sequencing (NGS)-based microbiota studies (e.g., 16S rRNA gene) in food-producing animals, like ruminants, are on the rise. The influence of the bovine microbiota on host energy status and metabolism has been studied (1-4), and recent NGS studies have linked enteric microbiota shifts to animal Citation Mote RS, Hill NS, Skarlupka JH, Turner ZB, Sanders ZP, Jones DP, Suen G, Filipov NM. 2019. Response of beef cattle fecal microbiota to grazing on toxic tall fescue. Appl Environ

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confidence: 99%

Response of Beef Cattle Fecal Microbiota to Grazing on Toxic Tall Fescue

Mote

Hill

Skarlupka

et al. 2019

Appl Environ Microbiol

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“…It suffered a hypotensive crisis and its condition worsened, with muscle flaccidity, loss of defecation, abdominal swelling, retention of urine, and ultimately death. These symptoms are similar to the toxicity symptoms of ergonovine and ergine [9–11]. Ergonovine poisoning can cause excitement, muscle relaxation and allergic reaction, apparent intelligence depression, gastrointestinal dysfunction and stomach ache.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 84%

Effects of feeding drunken horse grass infected with Epichloë gansuensis endophyte on animal performance, clinical symptoms and physiological parameters in sheep

Wang¹,

Li²,

Zhang³

et al. 2017

BMC Vet Res

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BackgroundMany reports showed that grass-endophyte symbiosis induced livestock poisoned. Yet, there is no study evaluating clinical symptoms and physiological parameters in sheep fed Epichloë gansuensis endophyte-infected grass. The objective of the present study was to investigate these indexes by feeding sheep with endophyte-infected A. inebrians (E+ Group) or endophyte-free A. inebrians (E- Group) drunken horse grass or alfalfa hay (Control Group).ResultsThe Epichloë endophyte caused obvious toxicity symptoms in the sheep fed E+ A. inebrians, with 1 of the 5 sheep having died by the 35th day. The feed intake and body weight gain of the E+ Group were significantly less than the E- and control groups (P < 0.05). Serum concentrations of alanine aminotransferase (ALT, 45.5 mmol/L) and aspartate aminotransferase for the E+ group (AST, 139.3 mmol/L) were significantly (P < 0.05) greater than for the E- (ALT, 31.2 mmol/L; AST, 78.6 mmol/L) and control (ALT, 32.6 mmol/L; AST, 56.6 mmol/L) groups at the fifth week; serum concentration of creatinine for the E+ group (63.8 mmol/L) was also significantly (P < 0.05) greater than for E- (56.6 mmol/L) and control groups (58.5 mmol/L). Meanwhile, urine biochemical indices for the E+ group indicated that ketone and occult blood were significantly (P < 0.05) elevated compared to the other groups while urine pH values were significantly (P < 0.05) acidic. The relative weight of heart, brain, liver, lung and kidney for Group E+ were almost two fold more than the other groups, but uterus weight was about half that found for Group E- or Control.ConclusionsWe conclude that the Epichloë endophyte infection is the cause of A. inebrians toxicity to sheep. Interestingly, none of the measured parameters differed significantly between E- and the control groups, which implied that drunken horse grass could be utilized efficiently by sheep when not infected by the Epichloë endophyte.

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“…Purified extracts from the large scale extractions were used in experiments to measure the biological activity in bovine tissues compared to chemically pure ergovaline (Foote et al, 2012 , 2013 , 2014 ). Summaries of experimental protocols are provided in the Bioassay section to facilitate explanation of the results.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tall fescue seed extraction and partial purification of ergot alkaloids

Fannin

Klotz

et al. 2014

Front. Chem.

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Many substances in the tall fescue/endophyte association (Schedonorus arundinaceus/Epichloë coenophiala) have biological activity. Of these compounds only the ergot alkaloids are known to have significant mammalian toxicity and the predominant ergot alkaloids are ergovaline and ergovalinine. Because synthetically produced ergovaline is difficult to obtain, we developed a seed extraction and partial purification protocol for ergovaline/ergovalinine that provided a biologically active product. Tall fescue seed was ground and packed into several different sized columns for liquid extraction. Smaller particle size and increased extraction time increased efficiency of extraction. Our largest column was a 114 × 52 × 61 cm (W × L × D) stainless steel tub. Approximately 150 kg of seed could be extracted in this tub. The extraction was done with 80% ethanol. When the solvent front migrated to bottom of the column, flow was stopped and seed was allowed to steep for at least 48 h. Light was excluded from the solvent from the beginning of this step to the end of the purification process. Following elution, ethanol was removed from the eluate by evaporation at room temperature and the resulting syrup was freeze-dried. About 80% recovery of alkaloids was achieved with 18-fold increase in concentration of ergovaline. Initial purification of the dried product was accomplished by extracting with hexane/water (6:1, v/v). The aqueous fraction was extracted with chloroform, the aqueous layer discarded, after which the chloroform was removed with a resulting 20-fold increase of ergovaline. About 65% of the ergovaline was recovered from the chloroform residue for an overall recovery of 50%. The resultant partially purified ergovaline had biological activities in in vivo and in vitro bovine bioassays that approximate that of synthetic ergovaline.

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Acute exposure to ergot alkaloids from endophyte-infected tall fescue does not alter absorptive or barrier function of the isolated bovine ruminal epithelium

Cited by 10 publications

References 22 publications

Response of Beef Cattle Fecal Microbiota to Grazing on Toxic Tall Fescue

Response of Beef Cattle Fecal Microbiota to Grazing on Toxic Tall Fescue

Effects of feeding drunken horse grass infected with Epichloë gansuensis endophyte on animal performance, clinical symptoms and physiological parameters in sheep

Tall fescue seed extraction and partial purification of ergot alkaloids

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