Systemic Metabolic Responses of Broiler Chickens and Piglets to Acute T-2 Toxin Intravenous Exposure.

The aim of this study is to thoroughly investigate the toxicity mechanism of mycotoxin T-2 toxin and to further understand the endogenous metabolic alterations induced by T-2 toxin. To achieve this, a nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)-based metabonomics approach was used to analyze the metabolic alterations induced by a single intravenous injection of T-2 toxin (0.5 mg/kg of body weight) in piglets and broiler chickens. A range of metabolites in the plasma, liver, kidney, and spleen of broiler chickens and plasma of piglets was changed following T-2 toxin injection. For example, a rapid increase of amino acids together with a significant reduction of glucose and lipid occurred in the plasma of broiler chickens and piglets following T-2 toxin treatment. A significant accumulation of amino acids and modulated nucleotides were detected in the liver, kidney, and spleen of T-2 toxin-treated broiler chickens. These data indicated that T-2 toxin caused endogenous metabolic changes in multiple organs and perturbed various metabolic pathways, including energy, amino acid, and nucleotide metabolism, as well as oxidative stress. We also observed elevated levels of tryptophan in the T-2 toxin-treated broiler chickens, which may explain the reported neurotoxic effects of T-2 toxin. These findings provide important information on the toxicity of T-2 toxin and demonstrate the power of the NMR-based metabonomics approach in exploring the toxicity mechanism of xenobiotics.