SUBCHRONIC EFFECTS OF OCHRATOXIN-A ON YOUNG-ADULT RAT-BRAIN AND PARTIAL PREVENTION BY ASPARTAME, A SWEETENER

1. Ochratoxin A (OTA) is a mycotoxin produced by several fungi, especi ally Aspergillus and Penicillium species. Many food and foodstuffs can be contaminated by ochratoxin A, which is consequently found in blood of animals and humans. 2. The distribution into the brain of young ad ult rats fed OTA for 1 to 6 weeks and some consequences have been inve stigated in the present study. 3. Our results on rats given OTA (289 m u g/kg/48 h) indicated that OTA accumulated in the whole brain as func tion of time according to a regression curve, Y=-8.723 a+16.72 with a correlation coefficient of r=0.989, where Y-axis is the OTA concentrat ion in ng/g of brain and X-ar;is is the duration of the treatment in w eeks. The brain OTA contents was 11.95+/-2.2 23.89+/-4.4, 39.9+/- 4.5, 50.3+/- 7.3, 78.8+/-6.3, 94+/-16 ng/g of brain in the mycotoxin-treat ed animals for respectively 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6-weeks treatment. OTA i nduced modifications of free amino-acid concentrations in the brain, m ainly, Tyrosine (Tyr) and phenylalanine (Phe), Tyr decreased significa ntly as compared to control (p<0.05). Phe increased significantly as c ompared to control (p<0.05). 4. Aspartame, (25 mg/kg/48 h) a structura l analogue of OTA largely modified the distribution and prevented the accumulation of OTA in the brain since the respective brain OTA conten ts decreased respectively to 9.6+/-.7.9, 19.2+/-3,0, 26.8+/- 4.2, 19.7 +/-1.9, 13.7+/-5.6 and 11.0+/-6.0 ng/g of tissue, for the same duratio n of treatment. It also prevented the modifications of Tyr and Phe lev els. 5. The histological investigations showed several necrotic cells with pyknotic nucleus, detected in OTA treated animals with higher fre quency as compared to the controls and Aspartame treated ones. Asparta me appeared to significantly prevent this nuclear effect as well, the meaning of which is discussed.