Detoxification of Deoxynivalenol by Co γ-ray Irradiation and Toxicity Analyses of Radiolysis Products.

Deoxynivalenol (DON) is a type B trichothecene that occurs predominantly in grains such as wheat, maize, and barley and has been implicated in incidents of mycotoxicoses in both humans and farm animals. In the present study, we chose Co γ-ray irradiation to degrade DON. First, the degradation effect of irradiation on DON was analyzed. Second, the toxicity analyses of radiolysis products were studied by oral gavage. The results indicated that Co γ-ray irradiation had significant degradation effect on pure DON: when 20 kGy γ-ray irradiation was used for 2 μg/mL DON in acetonitrile-water, the degradation efficiency of DON was 83%, and 2 μg/mL DON in ultra-pure water was completely degraded after 5 kGy γ-ray irradiation. The concentration of 200 μg/mL DON in ultra-pure water had significant toxicity to mice: decreased body weight gain and feed consumption as well as pathological changes in liver and kidney were observed compared with the control group. No significant toxicity was observed in mice that were given these degraded solutions treated by γ-ray irradiation, which indicated that the toxicity of radiolysis products in ultra-pure water had significantly decreased after treatment by γ-ray irradiation. This research offered some reference to detoxify DON in cereal grains.