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Submitted to: International IUPAC Symposium on Mycotoxins and Phycotoxins
Publication Type: Proceedings Publication Acceptance Date: 7/1/1996 Publication Date: N/A Citation: N/A Interpretive Summary: The true impact of mycotoxins on human and animal health is attempted by categorizing them on the basis of the body system affected; i.e., the liver, the intestinal tract, the kidneys, etc. With this categorization, the overall effects of the mycotoxins are simplified, but because the mycotoxins act simultaneously on more than one system, the true effects are not fully appreciated. Because we now understand the action of mycotoxins at the molecular and cellular level, the understood effects are of a basic nature to many or all cell systems and thus the true nature of the intoxications are of a more holistic nature than to a single body system. Therefore, the study of mycotoxicology has become increasingly complex because of the multiplicity of effects, the interaction of systems affected, the basic metabolic pathways affected and the physiological-pathological nature of the intoxications. Technical Abstract: There are numerous ways that the mycotoxins can be categorized, but if one is concerned with the toxicity of the mycotoxins, then a logical choice is to categorize them based on the animal systems affected. Such classification would then lead to those that are hepatotoxic, nephrotoxic, etc. There is at least one mycotoxin that affects each system in the animal body as a direct or indirect mechanism of toxicity. Several important mycotoxins affect the same system, for example the immune system. Also, a given mycotoxin may affect several systems concurrently. During the past 30 plus years that mycotoxins have been studied, we have come to more fully understand some of the metabolic attributes influencing toxicity. Until the discovery of the fumonisins, we understood little about sphingolipid metabolism nor did we understand the possible relationship of sphingolipid metabolism to carcinogenesis. The systems approach to categorize the mycotoxins was much simpler when we viewed a mycotoxicosis on a gross scale following rather large dose regimens. This becomes more difficult when we now are more easily assessing subcellular and molecular responses following low dose regimens. The interrelatedness of the systems becomes more obvious with our increased understanding of the mode of action of the mycotoxins and it becomes more difficult to separate, for example, the immune system responses from those of perhaps the endocrine system. In this regard, we are beginning to understand the action of certain mycotoxins in host-parasite interactions in plants and also the involvement of mycotoxins in disease, whether it be plant or animal. |
