Deoxynivalenol (DON) is one of several mycotoxins produced by certain Fusarium species that frequently infect corn, wheat, oats, barley, rice, and other grains in the field or during storage. The exposure risk to human is directly through foods of plant origin (cereal grains) or indirectly through foods of animal origin (kidney, liver, milk, eggs). It has been detected in buckwheat, popcorn, sorgum, triticale, and other food products including flour, bread, breakfast cereals, noodles, infant foods, pancakes, malt and beer. DON affects animal and human health causing acute temporary nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, headache, dizziness, and fever. This review briefly summarizes toxicities of this mycotoxin as well as effects on reproduction and their antagonistic and synergic actions.

Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry Faculty of Agronomy Mendel University in Brno Zemedelska 1 CZ 613 00 Brno Czech Republic

Zobrazit více v PubMed

Bony S, Olivier-Loiseau L, Carcelen M, Devaux A. Genotoxic potential associated with low levels of the Fusarium mycotoxins nivalenol and fusarenon X in a human intestinal cell line. Toxicol Vitro. 2007;21:457–465. PubMed

Coffey R, Cummins E. An exposure assesment of mycotoxins from feed-to-food in dairy milk. Ghent: Eurosis; 2008.

Debouck C, Haubruge E, Bollaerts P, van Bignoot D, Brostaux Y, Werry A, Rooze M. Skeletal deformities induced by the intraperitoneal administration of deoxynivalenol (vomitoxin) in mice. Int Orthop. 2001;25:194–198. PubMed PMC

Doll S, Danicke S, Valenta H. Residues of deoxynivalenol (DON) in pig tissue after feeding mash or pellet diets containing low concentrations. Mol Nutr Food Res. 2008;52:727–734. PubMed

Forsell JH, Jensen R, Tai JH, Witt M, Lin WS, Pestka JJ. Comparison of acute toxicities od deoxynivalenol (vomitoxin) and 15-acetyldeoxynivalenol in the B6C3F1 mouse. Food Chem Toxicol. 1987;25:155–162. PubMed

Gouze ME, Laffitte J, Rouimi P, Loiseau N, Oswald IP, Galtier P. Effect of various doses of deoxynivalenol on liver xenoblotic metabolizing enzymes in mice. Food Chem Toxicol. 2006;44:476–483. PubMed

Goyarts T, Danicke S, Valenta H, Ueberschar KH. Carry-over of Fusarium toxins (deoxynivalenol and zearalenone) from naturally contaminated wheat to pigs. Food Addit Contam. 2007;24:369–380. PubMed

Gray JS, Pestka JJ. Transcriptional regulation of deoxynivalenol-induced IL-8 expression in human monocytes. Toxicol Sci. 2007;99:502–511. PubMed

Hsia CC, Wu ZY, Li YS, Zhang F, Sun ZT. Nivalenol, a main Fusarium toxin in dietary foods from high-risk areas of cancer of esophagus and gastric cardia in China, induced benign and malignant tumors in mice. Oncol Rep. 2004;12:449–456. PubMed

Huff WE, Doerr JA, Hamilton PB, Vesonder RF. Acute toxicity of vomitoxin (deoxynivalenol) in broiler-chickens. Poult Sci. 1981;60:1412–1414. PubMed

Hughes DM, Gahl MJ, Graham CH, Grieb SL. Overt signs of toxicity to dogs and cats of dietary deoxynivalenol. J Anim Sci. 1999;77:693–700. PubMed

Chung YJ, Zhou HR, Pestka JJ. Transcriptional and posttranscriptional roles for p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase in upregulation of TNF-alpha expression by deoxynivalenol (vomitoxin) Toxicol Appl Pharmacol. 2003;193:188–201. PubMed

Iverson F, Armstrong C, Nera E, Truelove J, Fernie S, Scott P, Stapley R, Hayward S, Gunner S. Chronic feeding study of deoxynivalenol in B6C3F1 male and female mice. Teratogenesis Carcinog Mutagen. 1995;15:283–306. PubMed

Keese C, Meyer U, Valenta H, Schollenberger M, Starke A, Weber IA, Rehage J, Breves G, Danicke S. No carry over of unmetabolised deoxynivalenol in milk of dairy cows fed high concentrate proportions. Mol Nutr Food Res. 2008;52:1514–1529. PubMed

Kinser S, Li MX, Jia QS, Pestka JJ. Truncated deoxynivalenol-induced splenic immediate early gene response in mice consuming (n-3) polyunsaturated fatty acids. J Nutr Biochem. 2005;16:88–95. PubMed

Kolf-Clauw M, Castellote J, Joly B, Bourges-Abella N, Raymond-Letron I, Pinton P, Oswald IP. Development of a pig jejunal explant culture for studying the gastrointestinal toxicity of the mycotoxin deoxynivalenol: Histopathological analysis. Toxicol in Vitro. 2009;23:1580–1584. PubMed

Kushiro M. Effects of Milling and Cooking Processes on the Deoxynivalenol Content in Wheat. Int J Mol Sci. 2008;9:2127–2145. PubMed PMC

Madhyastha MS, Marquardt RR, Abramson D. Structure-activity-relationships and interactions among trichothecene mycotoxins as assessed by yeast bioassay. Toxicon. 1994;32:1147–1152. PubMed

Manthey FA, Wolf-Hall CE, Yalla S, Vijayakumar C, Carlson D. Microbial loads, mycotoxins, and quality of durum wheat from the 2001 harvest of the Northern Plains region of the United States. J Food Prot. 2004;67:772–780. PubMed

Nagy CM, Fejer SN, Berek L, Molnar J, Viskolcz B. Hydrogen bondings in deoxynivalenol (DON) conformations – a density functional study. J Mol Struct. 2005;726:55–59.

Ouyang YL, Li SG, Pestka JJ. Effects of vomitoxin (deoxynivalenol) on transcription factor NF-kappa B/Rel binding activity in murine EL-4 thymoma and primary CD4(+) T cells. Toxicol Appl Pharmacol. 1996;140:328–336. PubMed

Papadopoulou-Bouraoui A, Vrabcheva T, Valzacchi S, Stroka J, Anklam E. Screening survey of deoxynivalenol in beer from the European market by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Food Addit Contam. 2004;21:607–617. PubMed

Perkowski J, Chelkowski J, Wakulinski W. Deoxynivalenol and 3-acetyl-deoxynivalenol in wheat kernels and chaff with head fusariosis symptoms. Nahr Food. 1990;34:325–328. PubMed

Pestka JJ. Deoxynivalenol: Toxicity, mechanisms and animal health risks. Anim Feed Sci Technol. 2007;137:283–298.

Pestka JJ, Islam Z, Amuzie CJ. Immunochemical assessment of deoxynivalenol tissue distribution following oral exposure in the mouse. Toxicol Lett. 2008;178:83–87. PubMed PMC

Pestka JJ, Smolinski AT. Deoxynivalenol: Toxicology and potential effects on humans. J Toxicol Env Health-Pt b-Crit Rev. 2005;8:39–69. PubMed

Pestka JJ, Zhou HR. Interleukin-6-deficient mice refractory to IgA dysregulation but not anorexia induction by vomitoxin (d eoxynivalenol) ingestion. Food Chem Toxicol. 2000;38:565–575. PubMed

Pestka JJ, Zhou HR, Moon Y, Chung YJ. Cellular and molecular mechanisms for immune modulation by deoxynivalenol and other trichothecenes: unraveling a paradox. Toxicol Lett. 2004;153:61–73. PubMed

Schothorst RC, Jekel AA. Determination of trichothecenes in beer by capillary gas chromatography with flame ionisation detection. Food Chem. 2003;82:475–479.

Sprando RL, Collins TFX, Black TN, Olejnik N, Rorie JI, Eppley RM, Ruggles DI. Characterization of the effect of deoxynivalenol on selected male reproductive endpoints. Food Chem Toxicol. 2005;43:623–635. PubMed

Sugita-Konishi Y, Park BJ, Kobayashi-Hattori K, Tanaka T, Chonan T, Yoshikawa K, Kumagai S. Effect of cooking process on the deoxynivalenol content and its subsequent cytotoxicity in wheat products. Biosci Biotechnol Biochem. 2006;70:1764–1768. PubMed

Sugita-Konishi Y, Pestka JJ. Differential upregulation of TNF-alpha, IL-6, and IL-8 production by deoxynivalenol (vomitoxin) and other 8-ketotrichothecenes in a human macrophage model. J Toxicol Env Health Pt A. 2001;64:619–636. PubMed

Sun XM, Zhang XH, Wang HY, Cao WJ, Yan X, Zuo LF, Wang JL, Wang FR. Effects of sterigmatocystin, deoxynivalenol and aflatoxin G(1) on apoptosis of human peripheral blood lymphocytes in vitro’. Biomed Environ Sci. 2002;15:145–152. PubMed

Sypecka Z, Kelly M, Brereton P. Deoxynivalenol and zearalenone residues in eggs of laying hens fed with a naturally contaminated diet: Effects on egg production and estimation of transmission rates from feed to eggs. J Agric Food Chem. 2004;52:5463–5471. PubMed

Tajima O, Schoen ED, Feron VK, Groten JP. Statistically designed experiments in a tiered approach to screen mixtures of Fusarium mycotoxins for possible interactions. Food Chem Toxicol. 2002;40:685–695. PubMed

Ueno Y. The toxicology of mycotoxins. CRC Crit Rev Toxicol. 1985;14:99–132. PubMed

Ueno Y. Toxicology of trichothecene mycotoxins. ISI Atlas Sci -Pharm. 1988;2:121–124.

Uzarski RL, Islam Z, Pestka JJ. Potentiation of trichothecene-induced leukocyte cytotoxicity and apoptosis by TNF-alpha and Fas activation. Chem -Biol Interact. 2003;146:105–119. PubMed

Vandenbroucke V, Croubels S, Verbrugghe E, Boyen F, De Backer P, Ducatelle R, Rychlik I, Haesebrouck F, Pasmans F. The mycotoxin deoxynivalenol promotes uptake of Salmonella Typhimurium in porcine macrophages, associated with ERK1/2 induced cytoskeleton reorganization. Vet Res. 2009;40 Art. No. 64. PubMed

Visconti A, Haidukowski EM, Pascale M, Silvestri M. Reduction of deoxynivalenol during durum wheat processing and spaghetti cooking. Toxicol Lett. 2004;153:181–189. PubMed

Wong SS, Zhou HR, Pestka JJ. Effects of vomitoxin (deoxynivalenol) on the binding of transcription factors AP-1, NF-kappa B, and NF-IL6 in raw 264.7 macrophage cells. J Toxicol Env Health Pt A. 2002;65:1161–1180. PubMed

Yang GH, Li S, Pestka JJ. Down-regulation of the endoplasmic reticulum chaperone GRP78/BiP by vomitoxin (Deoxynivalenol) Toxicol Appl Pharmacol. 2000;162:207–217. PubMed

Yazar S, Omurtag G. Fumonisins, Trichothecenes and Zearalenone in Cereals. Int J Mol Sci. 2008;9:2062–2090. PubMed PMC

Yoshizawa T, Morooka N. Deoxynivalenol and its monoacetate – New mycotoxins from Fusarium-roseum and moldy barley. Agr Biol Chem. 1973;37:2933–2934.

Yoshizawa T, Takeda H, Ohi T. Structure of a novel metabolite from deoxynivalenol, a trichothecene mycotoxin, in animals. Agr Biol Chem. 1983;47:2133–2135.

Zhou HR, Islam Z, Pestka JJ. Induction of competing apoptotic and survival signaling pathways in the macrophage by the ribotoxic trichothecene deoxynivalenol. Toxicol Sci. 2005;87:113–122. PubMed

Tick defensin γ-core reduces Fusarium graminearum growth and abrogates mycotoxins production with high efficiency

Deoxynivalenol Induces Inflammation in IPEC-J2 Cells by Activating P38 Mapk And Erk1/2

In Silico and In Vitro Studies of Mycotoxins and Their Cocktails; Their Toxicity and Its Mitigation by Silibinin Pre-Treatment

Forage as a primary source of mycotoxins in animal diets