The beneficial impact of antioxidants on mycotoxin damage is likely linked

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http://www.organic-center.org/reportfiles/Mycotoxin_SSR.pdf

The beneficial impact of antioxidants on mycotoxin damage is likely

linked, at least in part, to

their ability to scavenge reactive oxygen species, thereby

protecting cell membranes from mycotoxininduced

damage. A sophisticated experiment using rats fed radio-labeled DON,

with and without

antioxidant supplementation in their diets, demonstrated a strong

protective effect of antioxidants on the

damage caused by DON (Rizzo et al., 1994).

In research in rats, antioxidant-rich cabbage seed extract and

garlic were given to pregnant rats

that were also exposed to fumonisin (Abdel-Wahhab et al., 2004).

Both the cabbage and garlic provided

a protective effect against the profound developmental effects

caused by the fumonisin in the control

animals. The authors attribute this protective effect to:

• Inhibition of microsomal lipid peroxidation;

• Enhancement of antioxidant-driven detoxification systems; and/or

• Scavenging free-radicals.