Cytotoxic effects and degradation products of three mycotoxins: Alternariol, 3-acetyl-deoxynivalenol and 15-acetyl-deoxynivalenol in liver hepatocellular carcinoma cells

This work is focused in studying the cytotoxic effects on HepG2 cells of the mycotoxins alternariol (AOH), 3-acetyl-deoxynivalenol (3-ADON) and 15-acetyl-deoxynivalenol (15-ADON) by the MTT assay, as well as in the identification of the degradation products and/or metabolites originated after treatment by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) equipment and extracted from culture media. HepG2 cells were treated at different concentrations over 24, 48 and 72 h. The IC50 values were from 65 to 96 μM, from 3.6 to 6.2 μM and from 5.2 to 8.1 μM for AOH, 3-ADON and 15-ADON, respectively. Among all three mycotoxins assayed, deoxynivalenol (DON) derivated presented the highest to…