Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Sui, Yuzhen
• Lu, Ying
• Zuo, Shoujun
• Wang, Haidong
• Bian, Xiaokun
• Chen, Guizhen
• Huang, Shucheng
• Dai, Hongyu
• Liu, Fang
• Dong, Haiju

Titel

Aflatoxin B[sub.1] Exposure in Sheep: Insights into Hepatotoxicity Based on Oxidative Stress, Inflammatory Injury, Apoptosis, and Gut Microbiota Analysis

Ist Teil von

• Toxins, 2022-12, Vol.14 (12)

Ort / Verlag

MDPI AG

Erscheinungsjahr

2022

Quelle

Electronic Journals Library

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• The widespread fungal toxin Aflatoxin B[sub.1] (AFB[sub.1] ) is an inevitable pollutant affecting the health of humans, poultry, and livestock. Although studies indicate that AFB[sub.1] is hepatotoxic, there are few studies on AFB[sub.1] -induced hepatotoxicity in sheep. Thus, this study examined how AFB[sub.1] affected sheep liver function 24 h after the animals received 1 mg/kg bw of AFB[sub.1] orally (dissolved in 20 mL, 4% v/v ethanol). The acute AFB[sub.1] poisoning caused histopathological injuries to the liver and increased total bilirubin (TBIL) and alkaline phosphatase (AKP) levels. AFB[sub.1] also markedly elevated the levels of the pro-inflammatory cytokines TNF-α and IL-6 while considerably reducing the expression of antioxidation-related genes (SOD-1 and SOD-2) and the anti-inflammatory gene IL-10 in the liver. Additionally, it caused apoptosis by dramatically altering the expression of genes associated with apoptosis including Bax, Caspase-3, and Bcl-2/Bax. Notably, AFB[sub.1] exposure altered the gut microbiota composition, mainly manifested by BF311 spp. and Alistipes spp. abundance, which are associated with liver injury. In conclusion, AFB[sub.1] can cause liver injury and liver dysfunction in sheep via oxidative stress, inflammation, apoptosis, and gut-microbiota disturbance.