Toxicity of culture material of Fusarium verticillioides strain MRC 826 tononhuman primates

We conducted a chronic feeding study in vervet monkeys (Cercopithecus aethi ops) over 13.5 years. The experimental design consisted of two dietary trea tment groups, each including males and females, fed varying levels of cultu re material of Fusarium verticillioides (Sacc.) Nirenberg (= F. moniliforme Sheldon) strain MRC 826 mixed into their daily food ration. Two females we re included as treatment controls. We conducted blood chemical analyses bim onthly and recorded all clinical signs during the course of the experiment. We took liver biopsies at various stages during the initial phase of the e xperiment. Several monkeys were terminated in extremis during the experimen t. Detailed feed intake profiles were determined 5 years after the experime nt began, and the fumonisin B (FB) mycotoxin content of the feed was determ ined during the final stages of the experiment. The apparent FB consumption patterns were related to changes observed in the biochemical parameters in the blood and urine, including the liver function enzymes and creatinine c learance as well as differential blood counts and sphingolipid levels in th e serum and urine. An apparent no-effect threshold for kidney and liver dam age is estimated to be between 0.11 and 0.18 mg FB/kg body weight (bw/day, which corresponds to a feed contamination level of between 8.21 and 13.25 m g FB/kg bw diet. Apart from the effects on the liver and kidney, a wide var iety of parameters, including cholesterol and creatine kinase, were also ad versely affected. Several blood parameters, including white and red blood c ells, also significantly decreased in the treated animals. The serum sphing anine level and the sphingosine/sphinganine ratio, monitored toward the end of the experiment, significantly increased in both the low-dose and high-d ose animals. The present study provides important information about the div ersity of lesions induced by culture material of F. verticillioides in verv et monkeys and the dosage levels of fumonisins to be used in long-term stud ies in nonhuman primates.