NIVALENOLENOL AND DEOXYNIVALENOL INDUCE APOPTOSIS AND DYSREGULATE WOUND REPAIR IN RAT INTESTINAL EPITHELIAL CELLS

The gastrointestinal tract represents the first barrier against ingested chemicals, food contaminants and toxins thus its integrity represents a barrier between the internal and external environments. Fusarium mycotoxins, nivalenol (NIV) and deoxynivalenol (DON) are frequently on cereals and processed grains. Following their ingestion, intestinal epithelial cells are exposed to high concentrations of NIV and DON capable to induce mycotoxicosis (Yang et al., 2010). To investigate the effects of NIV and DON we used the intestinal epithelial cell line (IEC-6). The addition of NIV in the culture medium significantly reduced the rate of migration of IEC-6 cells into the denuded area of a model wound. Instead DON slightly reduced the rate of migration of IEC-6 cells into the denuded area compared to IEC-6 cells cultured alone. Interestingly a synergic activity on reducing the rate of migration was observed adding to IEC-6 cells NIV and DON mycotoxins together. Both NIV and DON, tested at higher concentrations (5-80µM) significantly affected IEC-6 cells viability. Moreover propidium iodide analysis revealed that the reduced cell viability was related to an apoptotic process. All together our results reported the effect of NIV and DON on intestinal epithelium highlighting the effect of the few studied NIV and the synergistic activity of both mycotoxins in reducing the IEC-6cell response to epithelial injury.