Presentations

Mycotoxins are secondary metabolites of microscopic molds that can be found in all levels of food chain. More than 300 hundred types have been isolated, many of them have cytotoxic effects. Several species of Fusarium (F. acuminatum, F. equiseti, F. poae, F. sporotrichoides, F. graminearum) genus produce trichotecene-type toxins. These molds can grow on all types of grain and their toxins can be isolated from a lot of food and feed. Fusarium mycotoxin can cause reproductive disorders and has negative effect both on the female and male reproductive tract and on the developing fetus.

The aim of our study was to assess the effect of T-2 mycotoxin on in vitro development of mouse embryos.

Embryos were recovered from superovulated female C57BL/6 mice. The superovulation was induced by intraperitoneal application of 7.5 IU ml PMSG followed by intraperitoneal injection of 7.5 IU hCG.48 hours later. The hormon treated mice were co-housed with males for 16-18 hours. Zygotes were recovered from the infundibulum approximately 18-20 hours after hCG treatment. Zygotes were in vitro cultured in 400 µl medium (Cleavage medium, MediCult, Denmark) covered by oil (Mineral oil, MediCult, Denmark) at 37.5 oC with 6.5% CO2 and maximal humidity in air. In vitro development of zygotes/embryos was observed for 5 days until they reached the expanded blastocyte stage.

During our experiments 15 groups were created depending on the T-2 toxin concentration of the culture medium (0.1-500 ng/ml; 0.75-100 μg/ml). Zygotes of the control group were cultured in the same medium with no toxin.

Our preliminary results show that in media containing higher concentration than 2.5 ng/ml the development of embryos disturbed. At lower concentration than that of the 2.5 ng/ml depending on the amount of the T-2 toxin present in the medium the embryos developed further in different ratios during the in vitro culture.

Supported by Hungarian Academy of Sciences grant.