Immunochemical assessment of deoxynivalenol tissue distribution following oral exposure in the mouse

Deoxynivalenol (DON or vomitoxin) is a trichothecene mycotoxin commonly found in cereal grains that adversely affects growth and immune function in experimental animals. A competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to monitor the kinetics of distribution and clearance of DON in tissues of young adult B6C3F1 male mice that were orally administered 25 mg/kg bw of the toxin. DON was detectable from 5 min to 24 h in plasma, liver, spleen and brain and from 5 min to 8 h in heart and kidney. The highest DON plasma concentrations were observed within 5–15 min (12 μg/mL) after dosing. There was rapid clearance following two-compartment kinetics (t1/2α = 20.4 min, t1/2β = 11.8 h) with 5% and 2% maximum plasma DON concentrations remaining after 8 and 24 h, respectively. DON distribution and clearance kinetics in other tissues were similar to that of plasma. At 5 min, DON concentrations in μg/g were 19.5 ± 1.9 in liver, 7.6 ± 0.5 in kidney, 7.3 ± 0.8 in spleen, 6.8 ± 0.9 in heart and 0.8 ± 0.1 in the brain. DON recoveries in tissues by ELISA were comparable to a previous study that employed 3H-DON and 25 mg/kg bw DON dose. The ELISA was further applicable to the detection of DON in plasma of mice exposed to the toxin via diet. This approach provides a simple strategy that can be used to answer relevant questions in rodents of how dose, species, age, gender, genetic background and route/duration of exposure impact DON uptake and clearance.