Penicillium and Fusarium mycotoxin assessment using bovine intestinal epithelial cells (IEC) and co-cultured IEC + macrophages, and remediation with yeast mycotoxin binders

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Mycotoxins are toxic metabolites from mold that commonly contaminate cereal and livestock feed crops around the world. The consumption of mycotoxins contributes to substantial economic losses to the livestock industry due to reduced productivity and health. There are over 500 different classes of mycotoxins, many of which have unknown mechanisms of action (MOA), and they are frequently found as mixture contaminants. Adding mycotoxin binders to livestock feeds (i.e. Alltech's yeast-based Mycosorb A+®) is an important remediation strategy for reducing risk of mycotoxicosis, since they can reduce bioavailability of certain mycotoxins, which reduces absorption across the gut epithelium. Alltech continues to modify its' yeast-based product with the hope of improving and diversifying mycotoxin binding efficacy, and these next generation binders need to be evaluated. When testing the toxicity of mycotoxins in different species, and the efficacy of Mycosorb A+® and new generation variants for reducing mycotoxin bioavailability, in vitro studies are critical for initial screening. We have demonstrated the utility of a bovine macrophage cell line (BoMAC) for carrying out such studies; however, BoMACs alone do not morphologically reflect the intestinal barrier where most mycotoxin exposure occurs. It is physiologically more relevant to carry out in vitro exposure studies using intestinal epithelial cells (IEC), or even better, co-cultured IEC + macrophages (IEC+BoMAC). The proposed study will use bovine IECs and co-cultured IEC+BoMAC to explore the impact of mycotoxin exposure on the intestinal barrier, and to assess the efficacy of the mycotoxin binder Mycosorb A+® or new generation variants for reducing mycotoxin bioavailability.