Assessing the hydrolytic fate of the masked mycotoxin zearalenone-14-glucoside - A warning light for the need to look at the “maskedome”

- Masked mycotoxins are plant metabolites of mycotoxins able to contaminate food and feed worldwide.
- Zearalenone-14-glucoside is an abundant masked form of the mycoestrogen zearalenone.
- The toxicological relevance of zearalenone-14-glucoside is not still clearly defined due to the shortage of data.
- While inactive per se, masked mycotoxins raise health concerns upon hydrolysis to the parental compounds.
- Whole blood and some blood components hydrolyzed and metabolized zearalenone-14-glucoside to known xenoestrogens.

Masked mycotoxins are plant metabolites of mycotoxins that contaminate food and feed. They pose health concern as the shortage of toxicological data forces the lack of regulation worldwide. The present work investigated the toxicological relevance of the masked mycotoxin zearalenone-14-glucoside. In vitro, it shows a lower toxicity in respect to the parent compound. However, the major risks related to the consumption of masked mycotoxins depend on the possibility to undergo hydrolysis. Therefore, the hydrolysis and further transformation of zearalenone-14-glucoside in bovine blood and blood components (i.e. plasma, serum and serum albumin) were monitored using LC/MS-MS analysis to gain insights on the possible systemic fate. Hydrolysis was observed in all matrices, and both cell-dependent and -independent contributions were pointed out. Moreover, further metabolism was observed in the whole blood as zearalenol isomers were found. Serum albumin was identified among the active components, and the protein-ligand interaction was investigated via computational analysis. The blood has been pointed out as possible district of reversion and further activation of zearalenone-14-glucoside, and a similar fate cannot be excluded for other masked mycotoxins. Therefore, the systemic hydrolysis should be evaluated beside the absorption, bioavailability and bioaccessibility to deeply understand the toxicity of masked mycotoxins.

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