Synthesis of a specific protein induced by zearalenone and its derivatives in rat uterus.

Zearalenone and its derivatives (alpha-zearalenol and alpha-zearalanol), estrogenic mycotoxins produced by Fusarium species, when added in vivo and in vitro to immature rat uteri, induced the incorporation of labeled amino acids into a specific uterine protein (induced protein). When immature rat uteri were incubated with alpha-zearalenol in vitro, the maximum induction of the induced protein synthesis was obtained with 1 x 10(-6) M and the induction was detected 15 min after the start of the incubation. Moreover, this induction was strongly inhibited by prior addition of inhibitors of RNA synthesis such as alpha-amanitin and actinomycin D. The molecular weight of the induced protein obtained by the in vivo and in vitro treatments with zearalenone and alpha-zearalenol was estimated to be about 52,000 by means of SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. These findings clearly indicate that these estrogenic mycotoxins, despite their non-steroidal structures, exhibit an estrogenic activity toward target tissues in a similar manner to that of natural estrogens.