Exposure of infants to ochratoxin A with breast milk

Abstract

The nephrotoxic and carcinogenic mycotoxin ochratoxin A (OTA) is a worldwide contaminant in food commodities and also found frequently in human biological fluids. Dietary contaminants ingested by nursing mothers can appear in breast milk. But the rate of lactational transfer of OTA has not been investigated so far at various stages of breastfeeding. Therefore, and to investigate OTA exposure of Chilean infants, we conducted a longitudinally designed study in mother-child pairs (n = 21) with parallel collection of maternal blood, milk and of infant urine samples over a period of up to 6 months. Validated analytical methods were applied to determine OTA concentrations in all biological samples (n = 134). OTA was detected in almost all maternal blood plasma, at concentrations ranging between 72 and 639 ng/L. The OTA concentrations in breast milk were on average one quarter of those measured in plasma (M/P ratio 0.25). Interestingly, a higher fraction of circulating OTA was excreted in colostrum (M/P 0.4) than with mature milk (M/P ≤ 0.2). Infants exposure was calculated as daily intake from our new data for OTA levels in breast milk, and taking into account milk consumption and body weight as additional variables: Chilean infants have an average intake of 12.7 ± 9.1 ng/kg bw during the first 6 days after delivery while intake with mature milk results in average values close to 5.0 ng/kg bw/day. Their OTA exposure is discussed in the context of tolerable intake values suggested by different scientific bodies. Moreover, the study design enabled a comparison of OTA intake and infant urine concentrations over the breastfeeding period. The statistical analysis of n = 27 paired values showed a good correlation (r = 0.57) for this type of studies and thereby confirms that urinary OTA analysis in infants is a valid biomarker of exposure.

A comparative study of the human urinary mycotoxin excretion patterns in Bangladesh, Germany, and Haiti using a rapid and sensitive LC-MS/MS approach

“…Mean concentrations of DH-CIT and OTA were significantly higher in urine samples from Bangladesh than in Germany and Haiti at a p value≤0.05 2014) to 50 % , which demonstrates the need for better and robust estimates urinary OTA excretion rates. On the other hand good, correlations of OTA intake or dietary habits with urinary OTA concentrations were previously reported (Gilbert et al 2001;Coronel et al 2011;Muñoz et al 2014). We therefore conclude a higher exposure of the Bangladeshi cohort to OTA compared to Germany and Haiti.…”

“…Compounds monitored in this study were deoxynivalenol (DON), deoxynivalenol-3-glucuronide (DON-3-GlcA), T-2-toxin (T-2), HT-2-toxin (HT-2), HT-2-toxin-4-glucuronide (HT-2-4-GlcA), fumonisin B 1 (FB 1 ), aflatoxins (AFB 1 , AFB 2 , AFG 1, AFG 2 , AFM 1 ), zearalenone (ZEA), zearalanone (ZAN), their urinary metabolites α-zearalanol (α-ZEL), and β-zearalanol (β-ZEL) and corresponding 14-O-glucuronic acid conjugates (ZEA-14-GlcA, ZAN-14-GlcA, α/β-ZEL-14-GlcA), ochratoxin A (OTA), and ochratoxin alpha (OT α ), as well as enniatin B (EnB) and dihydrocitrinone (DH-CIT), a urinary metabolite of citrinin (Dunn et al 1983;Ali et al 2015b). Since in previous human or animal studies a good correlation has been observed between dietary mycotoxin intake and urinary excretion, AFM 1 , OTA, DON, FB 1 , and ZEA can be considered as suitable biomarkers of exposure (Zhu et al 1987;Gilbert et al 2001;Šarkanj et al 2013;Turner et al 2010;Riley et al 2012;Gambacorta et al 2013;Muñoz et al 2014). When reliable urinary excretion rates were available, these data were used in our study to calculate the PDI to estimate the human exposure to mycotoxins.…”

Multi-mycotoxin analysis using dried blood spots and dried serum spots

“…The LOQ values obtained with this new method indicate that the DBS-based sample preparation technique in combination with modern mass spectrometers is able to reach LOQ values comparable to those of previously published analyte-specific methods. For example, current OTA detection methods based on liquid-liquid extraction of the plasma, urine, or human breast milk lead to similar LOQs of 0.03 ng/mL [39]. Moreover, quantification of CIT can be carried out by immunoaffinity column cleanup resulting in a LOQ of 0.15 ng/mL for blood plasma samples [7].…”

Co‐occurrence of citrinin and ochratoxin A in rice in Asia and its implications for human health

“…For CIT there is lack of data on its lactational transfer. An efficient transfer of OTA from the maternal circulation to breast milk has been reported in two studies . Thus, CIT and OTA exposure in pregnant and breastfeeding women may affect the developing child …”