The comparative fate of T-2 toxin in chickens and ducks, and an investigation of kojic acid's toxicity and its possible synergy with aflatoxin in chickens

Abstract

The metabolism and/or toxicological effects of 3 mycotoxins were studied in poultry. In the metabolism study, a tritiated preparation of the trichothecene mycotoxin T-2 toxin was administered as a single oral dose to 21-day old male broiler (Hubbard x Hubbard) chickens and to the more sensitive male White Pekin ducks. At 6, 12, 24, and 48 hours post-administration, 3 birds of each species were killed and various tissues were collected, as was excreta at various times after treatment. To determine the amount of radioactivity in the excreta and tissues, samples were subjected to oxygen combustion analysis. There were no major differences between the 2 species in absorption, kinetics, metabolism, tissue retention or excretion of T-2 toxin and its metabolites. The 10-fold difference in toxicological sensitivity to T-2 toxin that exists between these 2 species could not be attributed to differences in the time course of metabolic detoxification or to differences in rates of excretion. To examine the toxicological effects of kojic acid and its possible synergy with aflatoxin, studies of male broiler (Peterson x Hubbard) chickens were conducted over a 21-day period beginning at day of hatch. In the toxicity study, 6 treatments of kojic acid at 0,.5, 1, 2, 4, and 8 g kojic acid/kg feed were used to establish a toxic response. In the synergy study, treatments of 0 or 2.5 g kojic acid/kg feed, and 2.5 mg aflatoxin/kg feed were used in a 2 x 2 design. The toxicity of kojic acid was evident only at concentrations greater than 2 g kojic acid/kg feed and was characterized by significant (P <.05) decreases in body weights and colonic temperature, increases in relative organ weights; and various changes in both serum enzyme activities and serum metabolites. Although significant (P <.05) effects of aflatoxin and kojic acid alone were observed in the synergy study, these data did not reveal any toxic synergy existing between the 2 mycotoxins. However, kojic acid did significantly (P <.05) antagonize aflatoxin's deleterious effects upon the mean corpuscular hemoglobin and mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration.