Effectiveness of beetroot extract in SH-SY5Y neuronal cell protection against Fumonisin B1, Ochratoxin A and its combination.

Fumonisin B1 (FB1) and ochratoxin A (OTA) are fungal metabolites of worldwide concern because of their effect on human and animal health, as both have been classified by IARC as possible carcinogens (Group 2B). Beetroot is a source of dietary fiber, folic acid, and vitamin C, and some studies have demonstrated their antioxidant activity. Therefore, this work presents the cytoprotective effect of beetroot extract (BRE) on a neuroblastoma cell line (SH-SY5Y cells) exposed to FB1, OTA, and its combination. Cytotoxicity was studied by the MTT ([3-4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide) assay, for 24 h and 48 h. Simultaneous treatment and pre-treatment strategies were tested with 1:512-1:2 and 1:0 dilutions of BRE, with a concentration range from 0.4 to 100 µM of FB1 and from 0.19 to 50 µM of OTA. IC50 values of 5.8 µM and 9.1 µM at 24 h and 48 h, respectively were obtained for OTA while no cytotoxic effect was detected at the concentrations tested for FB1. Cytoprotection with increased viability was obtained when the simultaneous BRE + OTA strategy was performed. Finally, better protection was observed in the pretreatment strategy in which cells were exposed 24 h previously to BRE, compared to that shown in the simultaneous assay.

Risk Assessment and Mitigation of the Mycotoxin Content in Medicinal Plants by the Infusion Process.

Medicinal plants are often consumed as infusions with boiled water. Scarce information is available in the literature about the migration of mycotoxins into the resulting beverage and/or the effects of the infusion procedure on the final mycotoxin contents. The aim of the present study was to investigate the impact of the infusion process on mycotoxin contents during medicinal plant preparation. For this purpose, the contents of aflatoxins (AFs) [aflatoxin B1 (AFB1), aflatoxin B2 (AFB2), aflatoxin G1 (AFG1), aflatoxin G2 (AFG2)], zearalenone (ZEA), enniatins (ENNs) [enniatin B (ENNB), enniatin B1 (ENNB1), enniatin A (ENNA), enniatin A1 (ENNA1)] and beauvericin (BEA) were analyzed in 224 samples of medicinal plants and in their resulting beverages. The quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged and safe extraction method (QuEChERS) was applied to the medicinal plants while the dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction procedure (DLLME) was applied to their infusions, and the mycotoxins were determined by liquid chromatography coupled to ion trap tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS-IT). The results revealed that ZEA, ENNB, ENNB1, AFB2, AFG1 and AFG2 were detected in the beverages with incidences of ≤6% and at concentrations from less than the limit of quantification (LOQ) to 82.2 µg/L. Mycotoxins reduction ranged from 74 to 100% after the infusion process. The risk assessment revealed that the estimated daily intakes (EDIs) obtained for ZEA, ENNB and ENNB1 were far below the tolerable daily intakes (TDIs) established.