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Highly deoxynivalenol contaminated oats and immune function in horses
Annabella Khol-Parisini1, Petra Hellweg, Ebrahim Razzazi-Fazeli
1Institute of Nutrition, Department for Farm Animals and Veterinary Public Health, University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, Austria. annabella.khol-parisini@vetmeduni.ac.at
Abstract:
The aim of the present study was to investigate the impact of deoxynivalenol (DON) on cellular and humoral immune parameters in horses. A feeding trial using naturally contaminated oats with high (20.2 mg/kg) and low (0.49 mg/kg) levels of DON was conducted. Two groups of five mares were fed 2 kg oats daily with high or low DON levels for two weeks, using a crossover design with a three-week wash-out period. No adverse effects on general health were observed. Only minor diet-related changes in differential blood counts and serum biochemistry were noted. Serum haptoglobin concentration was significantly elevated after feeding DON (p = 0.04). Lymphocyte subsets (CD4+ CD8+, CD2+, CD21+, MHCII+) and lymphocyte proliferation data (concanavalin A, phytohemagglutinin, pokeweed mitogen) were not different between feeding-groups. It can be concluded that daily DON intakes as high as 6.9 to 9.5 mg/100 kg BW appear to have no major impact on the measured immune response of horses, indicating that this species has a high tolerance for DON.
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