Oxidative DNA damage and multi-organ pathologies in male mice subchronically treated with aflatoxin B₁

Although the acute and/or chronic exposure to AFB₁ has been widely investigated, the study on the toxic effects resulted from the subchronic exposure of AFB₁ which is more close to the real scenario in view of the regional and seasonal characters of aflatoxin-producing strains is still limited. To understand the subchronically toxic effects of AFB₁, we studied the AFB₁-induced oxidative damage, reproductive impairment as well as their potential correlations and mechanisms at the molecular level. Generally, our results showed that subchronic exposure of AFB₁ gave rise to pathological and oxidative damages in mice, disrupted oxidation-reduction homeostasis, activated mitochondrial apoptotic and p53-regulated signaling pathways, induced DNA and chromosomal damages and increased the rate of sperm malformation. Importantly, reproductive toxic effects were detected in AFB₁-treated mice under a subchronic exposure, which was evidenced by the ascended sperm malformation. Based on our pilot study, it's speculated that the partial mechanism of reproductive toxicity may be the oxidative damages, especially DNA damages directly induced by AFB₁. In short, our study demonstrated that severe damages can be caused even by a subchronic exposure as well as hinted that reproductive toxicity also should be taken into consideration when conducting risk assessments of the subchronic exposure of AFB₁.