title: The Impact of Deoxynivalenol on Pigeon Health: Occurrence in Feed, Toxicokinetics and Interaction with Salmonellosis.
abstract: Seed-based pigeon diets could be expected to result in exposure of pigeons to mycotoxins such as deoxynivalenol (DON). Ingestion of low to moderate contamination levels of DON may impair intestinal health, immune function and/or pathogen fitness, resulting in altered host-pathogen interactions and thus different outcome of infections. Here we demonstrate that DON was one of the most frequently detected mycotoxins in seed-based racing pigeons feed, contaminating 5 out of 10 samples (range 177-1,466 μg/kg). Subsequently, a toxicokinetic analysis revealed a low absolute oral bioavailability (F) of DON in pigeons (30.4%), which is comparable to other avian species. Furthermore, semi-quantitative analysis using high-resolution mass spectrometry revealed that DON-3α-sulphate is the major metabolite of DON in pigeons after intravenous as well as oral administration. Following ingestion of DON contaminated feed, the intestinal epithelial cells are exposed to significant DON concentrations which eventually may affect intestinal translocation and colonization of bacteria. Feeding pigeons a DON contaminated diet resulted in an increased percentage of pigeons shedding Salmonella compared to birds fed control diet, 87 ± 17% versus 74 ± 13%, respectively. However, no impact of DON was observed on the Salmonella induced disease signs, organ lesions, faecal and organ Salmonella counts. The presented risk assessment indicates that pigeons are frequently exposed to mycotoxins such as DON, which can affect the outcome of a Salmonella infection. The increasing number of pigeons shedding Salmonella suggests that DON can promote the spread of the bacterium within pigeon populations.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, Toxicology and Biochemistry, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Merelbeke, Belgium.|Department of Pathology, Bacteriology and Avian Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Merelbeke, Belgium.
authors.forename: Gunther
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8832-1498
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Antonissen
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Bacteriology and Avian Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Merelbeke, Belgium.
authors.forename: Roel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Haesendonck
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, Toxicology and Biochemistry, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Merelbeke, Belgium.
authors.forename: Mathias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Devreese
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, Toxicology and Biochemistry, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Merelbeke, Belgium.
authors.forename: Nathan
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Broekaert
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Bacteriology and Avian Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Merelbeke, Belgium.
authors.forename: Elin
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Verbrugghe
authors.affiliation: Department of Bioanalysis, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: De Saeger
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Biosciences, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Kris
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Audenaert
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Bacteriology and Avian Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Merelbeke, Belgium.
authors.forename: Freddy
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Haesebrouck
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Bacteriology and Avian Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Merelbeke, Belgium.
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Pasmans
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Bacteriology and Avian Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Merelbeke, Belgium.
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ducatelle
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, Toxicology and Biochemistry, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Merelbeke, Belgium.
authors.forename: Siska
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Croubels
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Bacteriology and Avian Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Merelbeke, Belgium.
authors.forename: An
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Martel
mesh_terms: D000821:Animal Feed; D000818:Animals; D001715:Bird Diseases / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000382:microbiology; D010856:Columbidae / Q000378:metabolism / Q000382:microbiology; D007413:Intestinal Mucosa / Q000382:microbiology; D009183:Mycotoxins / Q000493:pharmacokinetics / Q000633:toxicity; D012475:Salmonella; D012480:Salmonella Infections / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000382:microbiology; D014255:Trichothecenes / Q000493:pharmacokinetics / Q000633:toxicity
chemical_list: D009183:Mycotoxins; D014255:Trichothecenes; C007262:deoxynivalenol