Isolation of satratoxins from the bedding straw of a sheep flock with fatal stachybotryotoxicosis

Abstract

During a period of several weeks, more than 100 sheep died at a Hungarian farm. The animals exhibited fleece loosing, and hemorrhaging was the most important autopsy finding. Pasteurella haemolytica was cultured from various organs. The bedding straw was abundantly covered with Stachybotrys atra, and removal of the straw stopped the disease. Methanol extraction of the bedding straw followed by solvent partitioning, column chromatography, preparative thinlayer chromatography, and high-pressure liquid chromatography led to the isolation of satratoxins G and H, which were characterized by thin-layer chromatography, high-pressure liquid chromatography, and mass spectroscopy. This is the first isolation and characterization of toxins from a field sample of material responsible for an outbreak of stachybotryotoxicosis.

Stachybotrys atra Growth and Toxin Production in Some Building Materials and Fodder under Different Relative Humidities

“…S. atra has been previously reported to grow on cellulosebased materials, e.g., hay, straw, wallpaper, and fiberboard, at a, values of above 0.91 in the temperature range of 2 to 40°C (2,4,5,8,10). In the present work, S. atra grew on all the materials studied, except on insulating material.…”

“…Stachybotryotoxins produced by Stachybotrys atra have been reported to cause toxicosis in farm animals, especially in Eastern Europe (10,14). The symptoms of stachybotryotoxicosis, including toxic irritation of eyes, skin, and mucous membranes followed by necrosis, changes in blood parameters, hemorrhages in many organs, and severe disorders of the immune system, depend on the amount of toxins.…”

“…S. atra sporulates at 2 to 40°C (5), and the minimum water activity (aj) varies from 0.85 to 0.95 for germination and from 0.91 to 0.96 for growth and sporulation, depending on the temperature and medium (2,5,8). Toxigenic and nontoxigenic strains of S. atra have been isolated from cellulose-based agricultural materials, e.g., hay and straw (10,14), and from contaminated moist building materials (4, 7). In some cases, high airborne counts of viable S. atra spores (up to 18,000 CFU/m3) were recorded in mouldy houses (12).…”

“…Stachybotryotoxins have been isolated from heavily contaminated materials of high cellulose content, such as straw, wallpapered materials, and fiberboard (4,7,10). In laboratory experiments, rice has often been used as a substrate for stachybotryotoxin production (14,22).…”

Pre-contamination of new gypsum wallboard with potentially harmful fungal species

“…Chaetomium globosum produces chaetoglobosins and Penicillium chrysogenum produces PR toxin, roquefortines, and penicillins, whereas S. chartarum is known for its production of macrocyclic trichothecenes and atranones (Nielsen et al, 1998;Samson et al, 2010). Some of these metabolites (roquefortine A, chaetoglobosin A, and roridin E (a macrocyclic trichothecene) (Polizzi et al, 2009)) as well as fungal cell wall components (b-glucans (Rand and Miller, 2011)) have been detected in indoor air, and fungal growth in buildings is therefore problematic, as some of these compounds may have a negative impact on the health and well-being of the occupants (Carey et al, 2012;Mussalo-Rauhamaa et al, 2010;Nikulin et al, 1997;Rosenblum Lichtenstein et al, 2015); especially, S. chartarum is of concern, because it is also able to produce hemolytical proteins (Nayak et al, 2013) and macrocyclic trichothecenes that have previously been associated with a number of animal and human health problems, for example, leukopenia in horses, sheep, and rabbits (Drobotko, 1944;Forgacs et al, 1958;Harrach et al, 1983;Jarvis et al, 1986) and pulmonary hemorrhage and hemosiderosis in infants in Cleveland (Etzel, 2007;Jarvis et al, 1998).…”