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Evaluation of acute and chronic exposure to aflatoxin B1 in indigenous women of the Huasteca Potosina, Mexico

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Abstract

Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) is one of the most studied mycotoxins due to its high occurrence in food and its hepatotoxic, immunosuppressive, carcinogenic, childhood growth, genotoxic, mutagenic, and teratogenic effects in humans and animals. Exposure to AFB1 is reported to be both, acute and chronic; the main exposure pathway to AFB1 is through the intake of contaminated food. In Mexico, although the reports of several studies addressing the problem of aflatoxins in maize and other foods, the evidence has been centered on exposure to AFB1 and to the quantification of the Aflatoxins themselves, but there is null evidence about genotoxic effects of aflatoxins in vulnerable populations. Therefore, this study focused on assessing chronic AFB1 exposure through the AFB1-lys biomarker adduct and acute exposure through total AFB1-DNA adducts in women from a rural indigenous community in the Huasteca Potosina (Mexico). A hundred percent of the studied population presented total AFB1-DNA and AFB1-lys adducts in concentrations of 1.08 (0.48–1.34) μmol of adduct/mol of DNA and 2.33 (1.08-102.6) pg/mg of albumin respectively (median (min-max)). Thus, continuous monitoring and important changes in regulations are desired and recommended. The results in this study provide enough evidence to support the toxic effects that the exposure to AFB1 represents, as well as the population risk that it poses, and in the same sense, the current need to create an intervention program that directly influences the control of the sources of exposure in order to reduce it.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge grants and fellowships from National Council on Science and Technology- Sectoral Research Fund for Education Basic-Science # A1-S-28176.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centro de Investigación Aplicada en Ambiente y Salud, CIACYT, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí, Av. Venustiano Carranza 2405, 78210, San Luis Potosí, SLP, México

    Lorena Díaz de León-Martínez, Maribel Rodríguez-Aguilar & Fernando Díaz-Barriga

  2. Sección de Biotecnología, Centro de Investigación en Ciencias de la Salud y Biomedicina, Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí, Avenue Sierra Leona 550, Lomas 2ª. Sección, 78210, San Luis Potosí, Mexico

    Alejandra Wong-Arce & Sergio Rosales-Mendoza

  3. Escuela de Veterinaria, Universidad De La Salle Bajío, Avenida Universidad No. 302, Colonia Lomas del Campestre, 37150, León, GTO, México

    Bernardo Bañuelos-Hernández

  4. CONACYT Research Fellow, Coordinación para la Innovación y Aplicación de la Ciencia y la Tecnología (CIACYT), Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí, Avenida Sierra Leona No. 550, Colonia Lomas Segunda Sección, 78210, San Luis Potosí, SLP, México

    Rogelio Flores-Ramírez

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  1. Lorena Díaz de León-Martínez
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  2. Maribel Rodríguez-Aguilar
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  4. Fernando Díaz-Barriga
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  6. Sergio Rosales-Mendoza
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Correspondence to Rogelio Flores-Ramírez.

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Díaz de León-Martínez, L., Rodríguez-Aguilar, M., Wong-Arce, A. et al. Evaluation of acute and chronic exposure to aflatoxin B1 in indigenous women of the Huasteca Potosina, Mexico. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27, 30583–30591 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-09361-4

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