title: Absence of detectable levels of the cyanobacterial toxin (microcystin-LR) carry-over into milk.
abstract: The potential for the carry-over of the cyanobacterial toxin, microcystin-LR, from feed to milk was assessed using four Holstein-Friesian cows in a 4 week feeding trial. Two cows were used as control and the other two dosed daily at increasing weekly concentrations of microcystins from zero to a maximum dosage of 13 microg toxin kg x (-1) d x (-1) (or 7.4 mg toxin day(-1)). The absence of any deviation from the control in terms of physiological response and plasma indicators (total bilirubin, gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase and alkaline phosphatase) suggests that the microcystin-LR dosage did not have a detrimental effect on cattle liver function or milk yield during the course of the study. While the milk production did decrease over the period of the trial, no difference was observed between control and dosed cattle. Protein phosphatase inhibition assays were successfully used to determine the presence of microcystin-LR in prepared milk samples with an average recovery of 88% for samples spiked with 0.6 microg x l(-1) microcystin-LR. The level of microcystin-LR in all milk samples during the trial was less than 0.2 microg x l(-1). This suggests that after digestion, microcystin--LR is either not present in milk or sufficiently modified to render it non-toxic.
authors.affiliation: School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia. andrew.feitz@unsw.edu.au
authors.forename: Andrew J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Feitz
authors.forename: Tredwell
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Lukondeh
authors.forename: Michelle C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Moffitt
authors.forename: Brendan P
authors.initials: BP
authors.lastname: Burns
authors.forename: Daya
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Naidoo
authors.forename: Jim
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Della Vedova
authors.forename: James M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Gooden
authors.forename: Brett A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Neilan
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001427:Bacterial Toxins / Q000032:analysis* / Q000633:toxicity; D015415:Biomarkers; D002417:Cattle; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D000458:Cyanobacteria / Q000737:chemistry; D005260:Female; D008387:Marine Toxins; D052998:Microcystins; D008892:Milk / Q000737:chemistry*; D010456:Peptides, Cyclic / Q000032:analysis* / Q000633:toxicity; D010749:Phosphoprotein Phosphatases / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors; D019032:Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization
chemical_list: D001427:Bacterial Toxins; D015415:Biomarkers; D008387:Marine Toxins; D052998:Microcystins; D010456:Peptides, Cyclic; D010749:Phosphoprotein Phosphatases; C057862:cyanoginosin LR