Rf. Vesonder et al., COMPARISON OF THE CYTOTOXICITIES OF FUSARIUM METABOLITES AND ALTERNARIA METABOLITE AAL-TOXIN TO CULTURED MAMMALIAN-CELL LINES, Archives of environmental contamination and toxicology, 24(4), 1993, pp. 473-477
Four water-soluble Fusarium metabolites (fumonisin B1, fusaric acid, b
utenolide and moniliformin), water-insoluble pigment (8-O-methylbostry
coidin), and an Alternaria metabolite (AAL-toxin) were tested for rela
tive cytotoxicity to five established mammalian cell lines. Butenolide
was the most cytotoxic to all five cell lines. LC50s were; 1 mug/ml t
o rat hepatoma (RH) (tumors derived from parenchymal cells), 7 mug/ml
to baby hamster kidney (BHK-21) fibroblast cells, and 15 mug/ml to McC
oy mouse (MM) fibroblast cells: LC100s were 1 mug/ml to Chinese hamste
r ovary (CHO) fibroblast cells, and 5 mug/ml to dog kidney (MDCK) fibr
oblast cells. Fusaric acid was cytotoxic to the MDCK, MM, RH, and CHO
cell lines; moniliformin was cytotoxic to the RH, CHO, and MDCK, cell
lines. The pigment, however, was cytotoxic only to RH and CHO cell lin
es. Fumonisin B, and a related toxin, AAL-toxin, at a high dose level
(100 mug/ml) were not cytotoxic to the RH, BHK, MM, CHO and MDCK cell
lines. T-2 toxin was used as a positive control, and inhibited all cel
l lines at the nanogram level. The difference in response of these fiv
e cell lines to the toxic metabolites, that were noted in this study,
was then used to evaluate nine HPLC fractions obtained from a methanol
-water extract of an F. moniliforme culture. The results indicated tha
t this type of cytotoxicity assay may be useful in following the isola
tion of metabolites from extracts of Fusarium culture, especially F. m
oniliforme.