Effects of maternal T-2 toxin exposure on the hepatic glycolipid metabolism in young mice

T-2 toxin is a kind of group A trichothecenes mycotoxins, frequently detected in various foods and feeds, having high toxic effects on both humans and animals. The present study aims to investigate the toxic effects of T-2 toxin exposure to ICR mice during pregnancy and lactation on liver glycolipid metabolism of young mice. The pregnant mice were given 0, 0.005 and 0.05 mg of T-2 toxin/kg bw daily through oral gavage from late gestation (GD 14) to the lactation (LD 21). Liver and serum samples of the young mice were collected on postnatal day 21 (PND 21), PND 28 and PND 56. The results showed that T-2 toxin increased the contents of triglycerides (TG), total cholesterol (T-CHO) and glucose in serum of young mice on PND 21 and PND 28. In addition, obvious lipid droplets of liver in T-2 toxin treatment groups were observed, especially in 0.05 mg group of PND 21 and PND 28. Compared with the control group, T-2 treatment also increased the expressions of genes associated with liver glycolipid metabolism, such as PEPCK, Glut2, Fas, Acox1, Hmgcr, PPARa, Srebp1 and CD36. These results demonstrated T-2 toxin exposure to pregnant mice could cause liver glycolipid metabolism disruption in the young mice and the toxic effects weakened on PND 56.