Dose-related genotoxic effect of T-2 toxin measured by comet assay using peripheral blood mononuclear cells of healthy pigs.

T-2 toxin is the most acutely toxic trichothecene mycotoxin: it inhibits protein, DNA and RNA synthesis. The main goal of this study was to evaluate the rate of DNA damage caused by T-2 toxin in porcine mononuclear cells in increasing concentrations (0.1, 0.5 and 1.0 μmol) and after two different incubation periods (24 and 42 h). The lowest concentration caused DNA damage and about 50% of the treated cells could be categorised as having 1 to 4 scores in comet assay. In parallel with the increase of T-2 toxin concentration, the frequency of intact lymphocytes decreased from 50.2% (0.1 μM) to 36.3% (1.0 μM) in the first 24 h. In case of score 3, the highest concentration of T-2 toxin resulted in a 5-fold change, as compared to the lowest dose. Cells with score 4 were found only after exposure to 1.0 μM T-2 toxin. The exposure time did not have a significant effect on the results, while concentration did (P < 0.0001). However, a significant interaction between concentration and time as fixed factors (P < 0.0001) was found. When these were combined as a single factor, the results showed a significant toxin treatment effect on the results. It was concluded that a time- and dose-dependent DNA damaging effect of T-2 toxin could be demonstrated using peripheral blood mononuclear cells from healthy pigs by comet assay.