engleski

Cytotoxic and genotoxic activity of Fusarium mycotoxins, deoxynivalenol and zearalenone in HepG2 cells

The aim of the study was to evaluate cytotoxic and genotoxic activity of mycotoxins, deoxynivalenol (DON) and zearalenone (ZEA), two common contaminants of food and feed found worldwide. Human hepatocellular carcinoma (HepG2) cells were treated with DON (0.25 - 16 μM), ZEA (1.25 - 80 μM) or their combination (1 μM + 5 μM ; 1 μM + 10 μM or 1 μM + 20 μM) for 24 h, and cell viability was assessed with the MTS assay. For genotoxicity experiments cells were treated with DON (0.5, 1 and 2 μM), ZEA (5, 10 and 20 μM) or their combination (1 μM + 5 μM ; 1 μM + 10 μM or 1 μM + 20 μM) for 24 h, and the comet assay was performed. DON (2 μM) and ZEA (80 μM) reduced cell viability to 70.5 % and 55.2 %, respectively, while combined exposure reduced cell survival from 16.2 to 24.5 % (P < 0.05). Results imply that both mycotoxins are cytotoxic for HepG2 cells. DON and ZEA in single and combined exposure did not increase % of tail DNA (P > 0.05), suggesting that these two mycotoxins do not induce DNA single strand breaks. Due to climatic changes and global food trade humans can be repeatedly exposed to DON and ZEA as well as their combinations ; therefore, the underlying mechanisms of their single and combined toxicity have to be further explored.

mycotoxins ; co-exposure ; cytotoxicity ; genotoxicity ; comet assay

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