Chronic,including teratogenic and carcinogenic effects of trichothecenes: A short review

Trichothecenes are toxic sesquiterpenes, produced as secondary metabolites by certain soil microfungi in agricultural products harvested during wet and cold weather, and/or stored inappropriately. When present in the ingested food they can cause haemorrhagic diathesis, acute and chronic disorders in many animal species, including man. Animals experimentally treated with T-2 toxin, one of the common, very toxic and immunosuppressive trichothecenes, develop gastrointestinal, skin, and neurological disorders. T-2 toxin given to pregnant animals can lead to abortion and fetal abnormalities. Rats surviving many months after several sublethal doses of T-2 toxin can develop cardiovascular lesions, high blood pressure and tumours, benign and malignant, of the brain, the pancreas, stomach, and certain other organs. The possibility has to be considered that trichothecenes may be involved in some similar idiopathic disorders and tumours in livestock and in man.