The Degradation Of Mycotoxins In Flour

To decreasing DON, ZEN and AFB₁ from flour, contaminated flour was treated by O3 and UV. In this study, degradation conditions for mycotoxins in flour were discussed, physical and chemical properties such as protein content, wet gluten content and whiteness of flour were compared before and after the treatment. MTT was employed to study the cytotoxicity of DON, ZEN, AFB₁ and their degradation products in LO2 cell line.The results showed that DON in flour at moisture content of 16.00%（w/w） was easily degraded when treated with 45.00mg/L O3 for 60 min; and when treated with 1200μw/cm2 UV for 60 min at moisture content of 12.00%（w/w）. Under these conditions, the degradation rate of DON by O3 reached more than 35%, when DON initial content ranged from 2.35 to 4.95mg/kg; while the degradation rate of DON by UV reached more than 30% with the same initial content.ZEN in flour at moisture content of 12.00%（w/w） was easily degraded when treated with 60.00mg/L O3 for 120 min; and when treated with 1200μw/cm2 UV for 30 min at moisture content of 12.00%（w/w）. Under these conditions, the degradation rate of ZEN by O3 reached more than 60%, when ZEN initial content ranged from 141.87 to 271.65 μg/kg; while the degradation rate of ZEN by UV reached more than 46% with the same initial content.AFB₁ in flour at moisture content of 8.00%（w/w） was easily degraded when treated with 60.00mg/L O3 for 30 min; and when treated with 1000μw/cm2 UV for 60 min at moisture content of 12.00%（w/w）. Under these conditions, the degradation rate of AFB₁ by O3 reached more than 65%, when AFB₁ initial content ranged from 7.74 to 17.09 μg/kg; while the degradation rate of AFB₁ by UV reached more than 53% with the same initial content.After the above treatment, protein content, wet gluten content and whiteness of flour had no significant difference compared with that of control group.The MTT results indicated that: the cell viability of DON-treated cells, which were used as positive control, was reduced by 62.02% after treated with 10.00μM DON for 48 h, while the cell viability of cells which were treated by the same concentration of degradation products by UV was reduced by 17.50%（P<0.05）and the cells treated by degradation products by O3 was only reduced by about 1.99% at the same time（P>0.05）. Degradation products by UV and O3 showed lower cytotoxicity to LO2 than DON. Degradation products of DON by O3 showed no cytotoxicity in 0¹0.00μM.The cell viability of ZEN-treated cells, which were used as positive control, was reduced by 63.82% after treated with 200μM ZEN for 48 h, while the cell viability of cells which were treated by the same concentration of degradation products by UV was reduced by 39.58%（P<0.05）and the cells treated by degradation products by O3 was reduced by about 26.07% at the same time（P>0.05）. Degradation products of ZEN by UV and O3 showed lower cytotoxicity to LO2 than ZEN.The cell viability of AFB₁-treated cells, which were used as positive control, was reduced by 57.50% after treated with 100μM AFB₁ for 48 h, while the cell viability of cells which were treated by the same concentration of degradation products by UV was reduced by 28.80%（P<0.05）and the cells treated by degradation products by O3 was reduced by about 5.02% at the same time（P>0.05）. Degradation products of AFB₁ by UV and O3 showed lower cytotoxicity to LO2 than AFB₁. Degradation products of AFB₁ by O3 showed no cytotoxicity in 0¹00μM.