Diagnosis > Poultry
What is the effect of mycotoxins on immunity ?Mycotoxins cause regression and cellular depletion of lymphoid organs. In the case of aflatoxin, it is most likely the interference of mycotoxins in protein synthesis that is the principal cause of immune suppression. To maintain the immune response in the body, birds and animals need a higher protein synthesis and when this is not possible, the immune system fails. One study showed that mycotoxins could reduce the number of mitotic cell in the bursa of broilers, and also reduced the humoral immune response to NDV vaccine, and when these birds were challenged against NDV they showed clinical signs of disease. This means that in the field, the presence of mycotoxicosis could reduce vaccine efficiency. The authors also suggested that in this situation, there might be a reduction in the maternal immunity in broilers from breeders fed with mycotoxin contaminated feed, resulting in lower liveability of the day-old-bird. The finding that fumonisins are potent inhibitors of the enzyme sphinganine N-acyl transferase disclosed other likely aspects of their biological activity, and cellular membranes are postulated to be a principal target for the fumonisins in vivo, which is very important for immune cells. Ledoux et al. observed that fumonisins decrease humoral immunity, suppresses lymphocyte proliferation and reduce bacterial clearance.
