Previous Article | Next Article ![]()
Applied and Environmental Microbiology, October 2003, p. 5870-5874, Vol. 69, No. 10
0099-2240/03/$08.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/AEM.69.10.5870-5874.2003
Copyright © 2003, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Laboratoire de Pharmacologie-Toxicologie, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, Toulouse, France,1 GREMIP, Faculté de Médecine Vétérinaire, Université de Montréal, Saint Hyacinthe, Québec, Canada2
Received 31 January 2003/ Accepted 21 July 2003
Fumonisin B1 (FB1) is a mycotoxin that commonly occurs in maize. FB1 causes a variety of toxic effects in different animal species and has been implicated as a contributing factor of esophageal cancers in humans. In the present study, we examined the effect of dietary exposure to FB1 on intestinal colonization by pathogenic Escherichia coli associated with extraintestinal infection. Three-week-old weaned pigs were given FB1 by gavage as a crude extract or as a purified toxin at a dose of 0.5 mg/kg of body weight daily for 6 days. On the last day of the toxin treatment, the pigs were orally inoculated with an extraintestinal pathogenic E. coli strain. All animals were euthanized 24 h later, necropsies were performed, and tissues were taken for bacterial counts and light microscopic examination. Ingestion of FB1 had only a minimal effect on animal weight gain, did not cause any macroscopic or microscopic lesions, and did not change the plasma biochemical profile. However, colonization of the small and large intestines by an extraintestinal pathogenic E. coli strain was significantly increased. Our results show that FB1 is a predisposing factor to infectious disease and that the pig can be used as a model for the study of the consequences of ingesting mycotoxin-contaminated food.
This article has been cited by other articles:
Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology. For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»