Using blood biomarkers to detect emerging mycotoxins
For the first time it is possible to achieve what the scientific community for a long time theorised as the best method to correctly assess the true exposure of animals to mycotoxins, by detecting them and their metabolites in bodily fluids, in this case blood. The novel findings demonstrate that current practices for detecting mycotoxin risk in feed alone, are not up to the task.
BY ARNAU VIDAL, PRODUCT MANAGER, MYCOTOXIN MANAGEMENT, INNOVAD I
nnovad has validated and patented a method to current- ly determine 36 different mycotoxin biomarkers in blood using so-called FTA cards. The cards offer a simple means to easily collect blood spots and dispatch them for analysis to their lab without restrictions. The blood analysis, applied with the Myco-Marker service, provides for the first time a picture of the true in vivo mycotoxin threat. The Myco-Marker service was launched one year ago and more than 1,000 samples from around the world have been already tested. The considerable volume of analytes tested have enabled an unprecedented relia- ble assessment of the real mycotoxin exposure in farms. More importantly, it has also demonstrated that feed analysis alone does not provide a sufficient overview of the mycotoxin risk. The added value of combining feed and blood analysis to uncover mycotoxin risk revealed that most cases (80%) of mycotoxin exposure would have been missed if only feed was analysed.
HIGHLIGHTS – Global Blood and Feed Survey in chickens and pigs (>1,000 samples in total):
• Most (80%) of farm cases of mycotoxin exposure globally would have been completely missed if only feed was analysed
• More than 50% of farm cases globally were co-exposed to five (5) or more mycotoxins
• Emerging mycotoxins dominate pigs and poultry across all regions (see Table 1)
• The toxic consequences of emerging mycotoxins can affect reproduction, gut integrity and can be worse than well known mycotoxins
• A correlation was seen between performance reduction and co- exposure to multiple mycotoxins in both animal species
• Extensive mycotoxin biomarker monitoring, including emerging mycotoxins, is crucial to optimise animal health and animal performance
• The choice of technology in reducing the exposure to emerging mycotoxins remains key and Escent S has already gathered some very promising data towards this
30 ▶ MYCOTOXINS | NOVEMBER 2021
Real risk discovered through biomarkers Myco-Marker service identified mycotoxin risk in all the stud- ied farms and more than 50% of them were co-exposed to five or more mycotoxins, one of the most remarkable out- comes is the discovery of a large presence of so-called emerg- ing mycotoxins in the blood from swine and poultry animals. These mycotoxins are considered emerging because our knowledge about them is only now evolving and emerging and yet they are the most persistent and predominant myco- toxins detected in blood samples by the service (Table 1). Tenuazonic acid, an emerging mycotoxin produced by Alternaria species, was the most frequent in 68 and 66% of the swine and poultry farms, respectively followed by other emerging mycotoxins, like the enniatins, produced by Fusarium spp. Enniatin B1 was the second most common mycotoxin detected in blood whereas, enniatin B and beauvericin (also produced by Fusarium) were within the top five recurrent mycotoxins detected. Based on this most extensive blood dataset known to date, these highly toxic compounds were shown to occur in all geographical areas and tenuazonic acid was the most frequent mycotoxin detected around the world. Other emerging mycotoxins such as alternariol (8%), alternariol monomethyl ether (11%) (both produced also by Alternaria) and enniatin A1 (23%) were also identified in the blood samples. Interestingly, the large exposure to emerging mycotoxins detected in the global blood survey from Innovad agrees with large-scale feed surveys published in the last two years, which reported vastly the prevalence of emerging mycotoxins. For example, enniatin B1 was detected in 92% of the collected finished feed swine samples (n=526), even more common than deoxynivalenol (88%), while tenuazonic acid was detected in 73% of the samples. The same feed survey also revealed that emerging mycotoxins were in fact even more frequently detected than other mycotoxins typically included in the routine analysis such as fumonisins (63%) or T-2 (45%). All these new data lead one to the significant conclusion that livestock are undoubtably being widely exposed to mycotoxins, far more than we once thought, and that emerging mycotoxins are the most predominant.
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