Protein profiles of serum, brain regions and hypophyses of pubertal boars fed diets containing fumonisin B1

Abstract

The effects of dietary fumonisin B₁ (FB₁ ), a toxin produced mainly by Fusarium verticillioides and F. proliferatum that grow on maize worldwide, on protein profiles of serum, brain regions and hypophyses were studied in 24 male Large White weanling pigs randomly divided into four groups (n = 6). In a completely randomized design, each group of the animals with six replicates, received one of the four diets containing 0.2, 5.0, 10.0 and 15.0 mg FB₁ /kg constituting the Control, Diet 1, Diet 2 and Diet 3, respectively, in a 6-month feeding experiment. At the end of the feeding experiment, blood sample was collected from the ear vein of each animal for serum protein analysis. All the animals were slaughtered and the brains and the hypophyses were carefully dissected out to determine the total protein (TP) concentrations in the regional brain and hypophyses. Animals fed the Control diet and Diet 1 had significantly (P<0.05) higher serum protein profiles than those on Diets 2 and 3. It was observed that TP concentrations decreased significantly (P < 0.05) in the cerebellum, hypothalamus and the medulla oblongata as the dietary FB₁ concentration increased. The TP concentrations in these brain regions and hypophyses of the animals on Diets 1, 2 and 3 ranged from 42.1-105.6, 30.5-96.2 and 26.3-92.3 % of the Control, respectively. Chronic dietary exposure to FB₁ at concentrations above 5.0 mg/kg is a potential health risk that may interfere with protein metabolism and result in significantly reduced serum protein profiles. This may not be lethal to growing pigs but a potential health risk that may produce adverse physiological response in the animals.

Keywords: Brain, Fumonisin B1, Hypophysis, Pigs, Protein, Serum.