Kontakt 2008, 10(1):200-208 | DOI: 10.32725/kont.2008.028

Prevention of the production of T-2 toxin and methods of minimizing its toxic effectsBiomedicine

Vlastimil Dohnal^1,2,4, Alena Ježková², Kamil Kuča^1,3,4,*, Daniel Jun^1,3,4

¹ Univerzita obrany, Fakulta vojenského zdravotnictví, katedra toxikologie

² MZLU v Brně, Agronomická fakulta, Ústav technologie potravin

³ Univerzita obrany, Fakulta vojenského zdravotnictví, Centrum pokročilých studií

⁴ UJEP v Ústí nad Labem, Přírodovědecká fakulta, katedra chemie

T-2 toxin is the most toxic member of the group of trichothecene mycotoxins. Its ingestion with food results in a number of diseases. The reduction of its contents in food or forage is of importance for health reasons. The incidence can be reduced by preventive provisions against the infestation of plants and growth of moulds as well as by its degradation to less toxic products. Most effective steps include adhering to principles of the good agricultural practice, which helps the production of non-harmful foodstuff raw materials. This chapter can include suitable agricultural technology provisions, choice of resistant varieties of crops and chemical or biological protection of plants. In storing, it is necessary to adhere to physical and chemical conditions (water activity, temperature, oxygen contents, etc.) at a level preventing the mould development. If the T-2 toxin is elevated due to non-adhering to or failure of the mentioned procedure, it is possible to adopt a number of decontamination methods with different efficacy: physical, chemical and biological methods. Addition of different sorbents into forage is frequently used, which decrease the toxin bioavailability through the mediation of its binding. T-2 toxin is subjected to degradation by action of strong acids and bases, but this also leads to a decomposition of nutritional substances. Some types of yeasts, bacterias and moulds are able to bind or convert T-2 toxin to less toxic or non-toxic substances.
It is also of importance to take into account the fact that T-2 toxin is subjected to metabolic changes in organisms of animals and some plants, through which the toxicity is considerably reduced. The degradation is considerably supported by microorganisms in the digestive tract. The activity of the microflora in the digestive tract of ruminants belongs to most important cases. The article offers a comprehensive review of the problems considered.

Keywords: T-2 toxin; prevention; decontamination; forage; foodstuffs

Received: February 11, 2008; Accepted: April 25, 2008; Prepublished online: June 27, 2008; Published: July 27, 2008  Show citation