Machine learning-aided design of composite mycotoxin detoxifier material for animal feed

Abstract

The development of food and feed additives involves the design of materials with specific properties that enable the desired function while minimizing the adverse effects related with their interference with the concurrent complex biochemistry of the living organisms. Often, the development process is heavily dependent on costly and time-consuming in vitro and in vivo experiments. Herein, we present an approach to design clay-based composite materials for mycotoxin removal from animal feed. The approach can accommodate various material compositions and different toxin molecules. With application of machine learning trained on in vitro results of mycotoxin adsorption–desorption in the gastrointestinal tract, we have searched the space of possible composite material compositions to identify formulations with high removal capacity and gaining insights into their mode of action. An in vivo toxicokinetic study, based on the detection of biomarkers for mycotoxin-exposure in broilers, validated our findings by observing a significant reduction in systemic exposure to the challenging to be removed mycotoxin, i.e., deoxynivalenol (DON), when the optimal detoxifier is administrated to the animals. A mean reduction of 32% in the area under the plasma concentration–time curve of DON-sulphate was seen in the DON + detoxifier group compared to the DON group (P = 0.010).

Comparative Assessment of Different Yeast Cell Wall-Based Mycotoxin Adsorbents Using a Model- and Bioassay-Based In Vitro Approach

“…Similarly, a comparable concept with a similar mathematical formula “affinity rate” has also been proposed in previous studies for mycotoxin adsorption [ 47 , 50 ]. Our results, as demonstrated by other scientific studies [ 20 , 50 , 65 ], confirmed that a given adsorbent could have varying efficacy towards different mycotoxins, which could be attributed to the wide range of molecular stereochemistry and chemical characteristics of the mycotoxin under consideration; major parameters include pKa, water solubility, polarizability, topological surface area, molecular weight (100 to 1000 Da), rotatable bonds, number and position of hydrogen donor sites contributing to the overall electrostatic interaction, and hydrophobic and π-stacking effects promoted by solute interactions. In addition, dynamicity of the carbohydrate composition of the product could contribute to changes in the number of sites of interaction depending on the concentration of the mycotoxins present [ 50 ] and the three-dimensional conformation of this network and associated binding sites, as determined in binding kinetic studies and in molecular mechanics and dynamic simulations [ 25 , 60 ].…”

Thermogravimetric Analysis of Moisture in Natural and Thermally Treated Clay Materials

“…The results are shown in Table 3. The observed adsorption effectiveness of smectites is higher than that of fibrous clays, in agreement with the literature [72,[75][76][77][78]. Palygorskite material removed a smaller amount of both molecules.…”

Incidence of aflatoxin M1 in cows' milk in Pakistan, effects on milk quality and evaluation of therapeutic management in dairy animals

“…In this way, aflatoxin B 1 cannot be changed into AFM 1 in the milk. Some activated carbons are frequently used because they bind and eliminate the effects of the mycotoxins (Lo Dico et al 2022). While the efficacy of these activated carbon compounds is inconsistent; bentonites are well-sought-out as an adsorbent for mycotoxins (Vekiru et al 2007).…”