Chronic Experimental Fumonisin Intoxication of Calves

Abstract

Fumonisins are structurally related mycotoxins produced by the mold Fusarium moniliforme, which is the most common fungal contaminant of com. Fumonisin (FB 1 ) is the most abundant of the fumonisins produced by F. moniliforme. The fumonisins cause encephalomalacia in horses 11 and pulmonary hypertension with pulmonary artery medial hypertrophy and right ventricular hypertrophy in swine, 4,21 are hepatotoxic in most animal species 3,[8][9][10]14,24 and carcinogenic in rats 6 and possibly people, 22 and are nephrotoxic in rats and rabbits. 8,24 Swine also exhibit altered myocardial function when exposed to fumonisins, and porcine cultured endothelium exhibits disruption of barrier function when FB 1 is present. 7,21 Previously, cattle fed fumonisins experimentally for short periods of time to determine the effects exhibited only minimal hepatic and immune function changes. 14,15 Cattle in feed lots are fed large quantities of corn for weight gain and occasionally develop pulmonary hypertension and congestive heart failure even at altitudes that are not usually considered a risk for pulmonary hypertension. This experiment was conducted to determine if cattle develop pulmonary hypertension in response to consumption of fumonisins for prolonged periods of time at altitudes that are not usually associated with pulmonary hypertension in cattle.Fusarium moniliforme was prepared as previously described. 26 The F. moniliforme culture material was ground to a fine powder and analyzed for FB 1 by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) as previously described. 27 The culture material contained 5,500 mg FB 1 /kg. This F. moniliforme culture material was mixed with com lacking FB 1 , and the resulting mixture was reassayed. The average fumonisin B 1 , B 2 , and B 3 levels in the final corn mixture fed to cattle was 328 FB 1 , 89 ppm FB 2 , and 23 ppm FB 3 .Five Holstein steers weighing 86-127 kg were individually housed in pens enclosed in an unheated barn and fed either alfalfa/grass mixed hay and rolled corn (group A) or alfalfa/grass mixed hay and corn mixed with fumonisin culture material (group B). Cattle were purchased after being weaned, allowed to acclimate to the environment, and fed corn at an increasing amount over a period of 7 days to a final consumption level of 0.72% of body weight once daily in all calves. Following 1 week of dietary acclimation, group A cattle were fed rolled corn at the same rate as group B calves. Group B calves were acclimated to the fumonisincontaminated corn over a period of 7 days by blending on treated corn and fumonisin-contaminated corn until after 7 Received for publication February 10, 1998. days the diet was entirely fumonisin-contaminated corn fed at the rate of 0.72% of body weight. Cattle were weighed weekly throughout the experiment, and the amount of corn fed to each calf was adjusted accordingly. Because only minimal effects were evident in the fumonisin-fed cattle, the amount of corn fed group A and B calves was slowly increased over 7 days to 1.07% of body weight,...

Effects of two different blends of naturally mycotoxin-contaminated maize meal on growth and metabolic profile in replacement heifers

“…To the best of our knowledge, specific comparisons on growing dairy heifers are not available. Baker and Rottinghaus (1999) fed Holstein steers 86 to 127 kg of BW with 2.36 mg fumonisin/kg BW (at the beginning) to 3.54 mg fumonisin/kg BW after 23 weeks, but they did not report growth measurements. At the beginning of the present trial, mean daily intake of fumonisins was 13.92 and 47.49 μg/kg BW in A and A-F, respectively, which was much lower than values reported by Baker and Rottinghaus (1999).…”

“…Baker and Rottinghaus (1999) fed Holstein steers 86 to 127 kg of BW with 2.36 mg fumonisin/kg BW (at the beginning) to 3.54 mg fumonisin/kg BW after 23 weeks, but they did not report growth measurements. At the beginning of the present trial, mean daily intake of fumonisins was 13.92 and 47.49 μg/kg BW in A and A-F, respectively, which was much lower than values reported by Baker and Rottinghaus (1999). According to Tripathi et al (2008), the best regression to describe the growth delay of heifers fed mycotoxin-contaminated diet was a second-order polynomial regression, with the two extreme curves (g/l) 13.29 13.58 12.97 0.38 ns ns ns C = group fed non-contaminated maize meal; A = group fed low aflatoxin-contaminated maize meal; A-F = group fed mixed aflatoxin-fumonisin-contaminated maize meal; A/G = albumin/globulin; CAB = cation-anion balance; AST = aspartate aminotransferase; GGT = γ-glutamyl transferase; ALP = alkaline phosphatase; LDH = lactate dehydrogenase; ROM = reactive oxygen metabolites; SHp = total thiol groups.…”

“…This latter enzyme activity was higher in the A-F group than in the other two groups (from the orthogonal contrast). According to Baker and Rottinghaus (1999) and Gelderblom et al (2001), these changes in enzymes activity evidence that hepatic and hepatobiliary tissues are the main target of these mycotoxins. The ALP and total bilirubin values recorded during the EP did not differ among diets probably because of the chronic kind of this challenge.…”

A Review of the Impact of Mycotoxins on Dairy Cattle Health: Challenges for Food Safety and Dairy Production in Sub-Saharan Africa

“…Fumonisins act by altering sphingolipid biosynthesis hence leading to the accumulation of sphinganine and causing toxicity. Oral administration to calves with a diet containing FB1 at 2.36 mg/kg/day increased to 3.54 mg/kg/day for 239 to 253 days showed elevated sphinganine/sphingosine ratios with mild hepatocellular morphology changes accompanied by mild bile duct epithelial changes [67]. Feeding trials with 75 mg/kg, 94 mg/kg, and 105 mg/kg FB1 for 14 days, 253 days, and 31 days, respectively, have also been reported to cause reduced milk yield, reduced feed intake, hepatotoxicity, nephrotoxicity, and reproduction problems and, hence, it can be concluded that oral administration with levels above 75 mg/kg is toxic to cattle [41,42,68].…”

Opinion of the Scientific Panel on contaminants in the food chain [CONTAM] related to fumonisins as undesirable substances in animal feed

“…Feed containing on an average 94 mg FB 1 /kg feed was given daily for 253 days to Holstein steers. The treatment increased serum AST and GT activities and induced mild histological evidence of hepatocellular injury and bilary epithelial hyperplasia (Baker and Rottinghaus, 1999).…”