Evidence of a new dechlorinated ochratoxin A derivative formed in opossum kidney cell cultures after pretreatment by modulators of glutathione pathways: correlation with DNA-adduct formation.

Ochratoxin A (OTA), a nephrotoxic mycotoxin probably implicated in human Balkan endemic nephropathy and associated urothelial tumors, induces renal carcinomas in rodents and nephrotoxicity in pigs. OTA induces DNA-adduct formation, but the structure of the adducts and their role in nephrotoxicity and carcinogenicity have only partly been elucidated. In vivo, 2-mercaptoethane sulfonate (MESNA) protects rats against OTA-induced nephrotoxicity but not against carcinogenicity, indicating two different mechanisms leading to nephrotoxicity or carcinogenicity.