Are all Mycotoxins controlled the same way?

Zearalenone (ZEN), a mycotoxin primarily produced by Fusarium fungi, occurs predominantly in cereal grains and have an estrogenic activity due to its structure, binding to estrogen receptors and causing severe reproductive and hormonal disruptions. In females it will lead to swelling, redness, and enlargement of the vulva, enlarged uterus, pseudopregnancy, and irregular or suppressed estrus cycles. In pregnant Sows it decreases reproductive performance (abortions, stillbirths, and weaker or splay-legged piglets). Even males may be affected being feminized, and having testicular atrophy, reduced libido, and lower sperm production.

As a result, it will impair reproductive performance and cause economic losses.

Mitigating the risk of zearalenone is also not that simple, while clay-based mycotoxin binders are widely used in animal nutrition, not all clays perform equally against ZEA.

The challenge lies in the chemistry of the toxin itself. Some mycotoxins are highly polar and readily attracted to the charged surfaces of many natural clays but zearalenone is a predominantly non-polar molecule. This means inactivated clays often have limited ability to retain it efficiently.

During the activation process, clay minerals undergo controlled physical and chemical modifications that increase the available surface area, improve pore accessibility and optimize the distribution of binding sites creating more opportunities for hydrophobic interactions and other molecular forces that are essential for capturing non-polar toxins such as zearalenone.

A toxicokinetic study using piglets to assess the efficacy of a selected blend of unique activated adsorbents (Toxfin® XL, Kemin) was performed, 12 piglets were divided into 2 groups: a control group and a treatment group. All pigs were challenged with mycotoxins on day 8 with Ochratoxin and Deoxynivalenol and at day 10 with 3mg Zearalenone/kg BW. The pigs in the treatment group received 150 mg of TOXFIN XL/kg BW on day 8 and day 10 via the same intragastric tube. Blood was collected at several time points and plasma levels of mycotoxins and their metabolites were quantified using LC-MS/MS. Zearalenone is immediately absorbed by piglets (Figure 1), peaking 10 min after challenge, TOXFIN XL significantly prevented the absorption of ZEA by piglets, the SD of the Positive Control group is higher than that of the Toxfin XL showing uniformity in all treated piglets.

In conclusion, ZEA may not be as easy to bind by some clay binders due to its properties, but the right selection of activated clay binders allows for the successful adsorption of this mycotoxin, rendering it unable to be absorb by the animals and preventing the very significant problems associated with ZEA, as we saw, in the discussed in vivo trial (a toxicokinetic trial ), the efficacy of a combination of selected binders very successfully prevented ZEA absorption in pigs.