Reducing the effect of beauvericin on neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y cell line by natural products

Evaluating the combined and individual cytotoxic effect of beauvericin, enniatin B and ochratoxin a on breast cancer cells, leukemia cells, and fresh peripheral blood mononuclear cells

Beauvericin (BEA), Enniatin B (ENN B), and Ochratoxin A (OTA) are mycotoxins produced by fungi species. Their main effect on several organs and systems is associated with chronic exposure going from immunotoxicity, estrogenic disorders, and renal failure to cancer (in animals and humans). OTA belongs to Group 1 according to the International Agency for Research in Cancer (IARC) and it has legislated limited values; not happening for BEA nor ENN B. Exposure to mixtures of mycotoxins occurs through food intake in daily consumption. The aim of this study was to evaluate the implication of BEA, ENN B, and OTA individually and combined in producing cytotoxicity in cells for immunological studies and cancer cell lines (human leukemia cells (HL-60), fresh human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), and human breast cancer (MDA-MB-231) cells). Cells were treated for 4 h and 24 h at different concentrations of BEA, ENN B, and OTA, respectively. Viability assays were carried out by flow cytometry using DAPI (4',6-diamindino-2-phenylindole, dihydrochloride) as a viability dye and the potential effects of synergism, addition, and antagonism were assessed through the Chou and Talalay method. Individual OTA treatment exerted the greatest cytotoxicity for PBMC cells (IC50 0.5 μM) while ENN B for HL-60 (IC50 0.25 μM) and MDA-MB-231 (IC50 0.15 μM). In binary combination [ENN B + OTA] resulted in exerting the greatest cytotoxicity for HL-60 and MDA-MB-231 cells; while [BEA + OTA] in PBMC cells. The triple combination resulted in being highly cytotoxic for PBMC cells compared to HL-60 and MDA-MB-231 cells. In summary, PBMC cells were the most sensible cells for all three mycotoxins and the presence of OTA in any of the combinations had the greatest toxicity causing synergism as the most common cytotoxic effect.

Effect of Acrylamide and Mycotoxins in SH-SY5Y Cells: A Review

Thermal processes induce the formation of undesired toxic components, such as acrylamide (AA), which has been shown to induce brain toxicity in humans and classified as Group 2A by the International Agency of Research in Cancer (IARC), as well as some mycotoxins. AA and mycotoxins' toxicity is studied in several in vitro models, including the neuroblastoma cell line model SH-SY5Y cells. Both AA and mycotoxins occur together in the same food matrix cereal base (bread, pasta, potatoes, coffee roasting, etc.). Therefore, the goal of this review is to deepen the knowledge about the neurological effects that AA and mycotoxins can induce on the in vitro model SH-SY5Y and its mechanism of action (MoA) focusing on the experimental assays reported in publications of the last 10 years. The analysis of the latest publications shows that most of them are focused on cytotoxicity, apoptosis, and alteration in protein expression, while others are interested in oxidative stress, axonopathy, and the disruption of neurite outgrowth. While both AA and mycotoxins have been studied in SH-SY5Y cells separately, the mixture of them is starting to draw the interest of the scientific community. This highlights a new and interesting field to explore due to the findings reported in several publications that can be compared and the implications in human health that both could cause. In relation to the assays used, the most employed were the MTT, axonopathy, and qPCR assays. The concentration dose range studied was 0.1-10 mM for AA and 2 fM to 200 µM depending on the toxicity and time of exposure for mycotoxins. A healthy and varied diet allows the incorporation of a large family of bioactive compounds that can mitigate the toxic effects associated with contaminants present in food. Although this has been reported in some publications for mycotoxins, there is still a big gap for AA which evidences that more investigations are needed to better explore the risks for human health when exposed to AA and mycotoxins.

Mechanisms Underlying Neurodegenerative Disorders and Potential Neuroprotective Activity of Agrifood By-Products

Neurodegenerative diseases, characterized by progressive loss in selected areas of the nervous system, are becoming increasingly prevalent worldwide due to an aging population. Despite their diverse clinical manifestations, neurodegenerative diseases are multifactorial disorders with standard features and mechanisms such as abnormal protein aggregation, mitochondrial dysfunction, oxidative stress and inflammation. As there are no effective treatments to counteract neurodegenerative diseases, increasing interest has been directed to the potential neuroprotective activities of plant-derived compounds found abundantly in food and in agrifood by-products. Food waste has an extremely negative impact on the environment, and recycling is needed to promote their disposal and overcome this problem. Many studies have been carried out to develop green and effective strategies to extract bioactive compounds from food by-products, such as peel, leaves, seeds, bran, kernel, pomace, and oil cake, and to investigate their biological activity. In this review, we focused on the potential neuroprotective activity of agrifood wastes obtained by common products widely produced and consumed in Italy, such as grapes, coffee, tomatoes, olives, chestnuts, onions, apples, and pomegranates.

Improvement of beauvericin production by Fusarium oxysporum AB2 under solid-state fermentation using an optimised liquid medium and co-cultures

The production of beauvericin (BEA) by Fusarium oxysporum AB2 in liquid medium (SmF) was compared to that on solid medium (SSF) on inert support (polyurethane foam or PUF), using a previously optimised medium. The analysis included two different concentrations of the medium (1 × and 3 ×). Under SSF, the production of BEA (22.8 mg·L^-1) was higher relative to SmF (0.8 mg·L^-1). The production increased proportionally in the concentrated medium (3 ×) (65.3 mg·L^-1); using the concentrated medium in SmF, the production of BEA was completely inhibited, although more biomass was produced. The peak of BEA production was reached on day 7 and remained stable until day 11; sustained production after several days has not been achieved in similar reports. The presence of BEA was corroborated by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and mass spectrometry. The BEA production profile is shown performing mixed cultures of Fusarium oxysporum AB2 and Epicoccum nigrum TORT using the same system, increasing the production of BEA up to 84.6 mg·L^-1. We propose SSF using polyurethane foam (PUF) as a solid support as a new culture system for obtaining secondary metabolites such as BEA.

Single and combined effects of regulated and emerging mycotoxins on viability and mitochondrial function of SH-SY5Y cells

Co-occurrence of emerging and regulated mycotoxins in contaminated samples has been widely documented, but studies about their combined toxicity are scarce. In this report, the regulated mycotoxins deoxynivalenol, fumonisin B1 and zearalenone, and the emerging ones enniatin A, enniatin B and beauvericin were tested in SH-SY5Y human neuroblastoma cells. Their individual and binary combined effects on cell viability and mitochondrial function were evaluated. The results with individual mycotoxins revealed that deoxynivalenol and emerging mycotoxins were the most damaging to neuronal cells, presenting IC₅₀ values between 0.35 and 2.4 μM. Interestingly, non-regulated mycotoxins triggered apoptosis by affecting to mitochondrial membrane potential. However, when regulated and non-regulated mycotoxins were binary mixed, antagonistic effects were found in all cases. Finally, cow feed and milk extracts were analysed by UHPLC-MS/MS, detecting the presence of several mycotoxins included in this study. These extracts were tested in neuroblastoma cells, and damaging effects on cell viability were found. Although binary combinations of mycotoxins produced antagonistic effects, their mixture in natural matrixes induces greater effects than expected. Therefore, it would be interesting to explore the matrix influence on mycotoxin toxicity, and to continue studying the neurotoxic mechanism of action of emerging mycotoxins, as they could be a health hazard.

Study of enzymatic activity in human neuroblastoma cells SH-SY5Y exposed to zearalenone's derivates and beauvericin

Beauvericin (BEA), α-zearalenol (α-ZEL) and β-zearalenol (β-ZEL), are produced by several Fusarium species that contaminate cereal grains. These mycotoxins can cause cytotoxicity and neurotoxicity in various cell lines and they are also capable of produce oxidative stress at molecular level. However, mammalian cells are equipped with a protective endogenous antioxidant system formed by no-enzymatic antioxidant and enzymatic protective systems such as glutathione peroxidase (GPx), glutathione S-transferase (GST), catalase (CAT) and superoxide dismutase (SOD). The aim of this study was evaluating the effects of α-ZEL, β-ZEL and BEA, on enzymatic GPx, GST, CAT and SOD activity in human neuroblastoma cells using the SH-SY5Y cell line, over 24 h and 48 h with different treatments at the following concentration range: from 1.56 to 12.5 μM for α-ZEL and β-ZEL, from 0.39 to 2.5 μM for BEA, from 1.87 to 25 μM for binary combinations and from 3.43 to 27.5 μM for tertiary combination. SH-SY5Y cells exposed to α-ZEL, β-ZEL and BEA revealed an overall increase in the activity of i) GPx, after 24 h of exposure up to 24-fold in individual treatments and 15-fold in binary combination; ii) GST after 24 h of exposure up to 10-fold (only in combination forms), and iii) SOD up to 3.5- and 5-fold in individual and combined treatment, respectively after 48 h of exposure. On the other hand, CAT activity decreased significantly in all treatments up to 92% after 24 h except for β-ZEL + BEA, which revealed the opposite.

Coffee Silverskin and Spent Coffee Suitable as Neuroprotectors against Cell Death by Beauvericin and α-Zearalenol: Evaluating Strategies of Treatment

Coffee silverskin and spent coffee have been evaluated in a neuroblastoma cell line (SH-SY5Y cells) against beauvericin (BEA) and α-zearalenol (α-ZEL)-induced cytotoxicity with different strategies of treatment. First, the direct treatment of mycotoxins and coffee by-products extracts in SH-SY5Y cells was assayed. IC₅₀ values for α-ZEL were 20.8 and 14.0 µM for 48 h and 72 h, respectively and, for BEA only at 72 h, it was 2.5 µM. Afterwards, the pre-treatment with spent coffee obtained by boiling water increased cell viability for α-ZEL at 24 h and 48 h from 10% to 16% and from 25% to 30%, respectively; while with silverskin coffee, a decrease was observed. Opposite effects were observed for BEA where an increase for silverskin coffee was observed at 24 h and 48 h, from 14% to 23% and from 25% to 44%, respectively; however, a decrease below 50% was observed for spent coffee. Finally, the simultaneous treatment strategy for the highest concentration assayed in SH-SY5Y cells provided higher cytoprotection for α-ZEL (from 44% to 56% for 24 h and 48 h, respectively) than BEA (30% for 24 h and 48 h). Considering the high viability of coffee silverskin extracts for SH-SY5Y cells, there is a forthcoming promising use of these unexploited residues in the near future against mycotoxins effects.