Ineffectiveness of activated carbon in reducing the alteration of sphingolipid metabolism in rats exposed to fumonisin-contaminated diets

Sphinganine/sphingosine (SA/SO) ratio, a biomarker of fumonisin exposure, has been measured in urine, kidney and liver of male Wistar rats exposed to fumonisin-contaminated diet with and without the addition of activated carbon (AC). The latter was previously shown to adsorb fumonisin B-1 in vitro. Rats were fed either control diet or fumonisin-contaminated diet (4 mug FB1+FB2/g) or fumonisin-contaminated diet mixed with 20 mg AC/g diet for 1 week. In rats fed fumonisin-contaminated diet, the SA concentration and SA/SO ratio increased significantly and reversibly in kidney, while urine and liver did not show a significant increase of SA/SO ratio. The addition of AC to the fumonisin-contaminated diet did not alter the change of SA/SO biomarker for fumonisin exposure. This provides indications that the use of AC to reduce the toxicity of fumonisins is unlikely to be effective in vivo. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.