Toxicological interactions between the mycotoxins beauvericin, deoxynivalenol and T-2 toxin in CHO-K1 cells in vitro.

Abstract Beauvericin (BEA), deoxynivalenol (DON) and T-2 toxin (T-2) are important food-borne mycotoxins that have been implicated in human health. In this study, the acute toxicity of individual and combined mycotoxins (BEA, DON and T-2) were tested in immortalized hamster ovarian cells (CHO-K1) at 24, 48 and 72 h of exposure, by the tetrazolium salt (MTT) and neutral red (NR) assays. The IC50 values obtained for all mycotoxins by the MTT and NR assays ranged from 0.017 to 12.08 μM and from 0.042 to 17.22 μM, respectively. Both, individual and combined mycotoxins demonstrated a significant cytotoxic effect in CHO-K1 cells in a dose-dependent manner. When mycotoxins were assayed individuall…