Mycotoxins are of great concern in relation to food safety. When animals are exposed to them, health problems, economic losses in farms and related industries, and the carryover of these compounds to animal-derived foods can occur. Therefore, control of animal exposure is of great importance. This control may be carried out by analyzing raw material and/or feed or through the analysis of biomarkers of exposure in biological matrixes. This second approach has been chosen in the present study. Firstly, a methodology capable of analyzing mycotoxins and some derivatives (AFB1, OTA, ZEA, DON, 3- and 15-ADON, DOM-1, T-2, HT-2, AFM1, STER, NEO, DAS, FUS-X, AFB2, AFG1, AFG2, OTB, and NIV) by LC-MS/MS in human plasma, has been revalidated to be applied in animal plasma. Secondly, this methodology was used in 80 plasma samples obtained from animals dedicated to food production: cattle, pigs, poultry, and sheep (20 samples of each), with and without being treated with a mixture of β-glucuronidase-arylsulfatase to determine possible glucuronide and sulfate conjugates. Without enzymatic treatment, no mycotoxin was detected in any of the samples. Only one sample from poultry presented levels of DON and 3- and 15-ADON. With enzymatic treatment, only DON (1 sample) and STER were detected. The prevalence of STER was 100% of the samples, without significant differences among the four species; however, the prevalence and levels of this mycotoxin in the previously analyzed feed were low. This could be explained by the contamination of the farm environment. Animal biomonitoring can be a useful tool to assess animal exposure to mycotoxins. However, for these studies to be carried out and to be useful, knowledge must be increased on appropriate biomarkers for each mycotoxin in different animal species. In addition, adequate and validated analytical methods are needed, as well as knowledge of the relationships between the levels found in biological matrices and mycotoxin intake and toxicity.
Keywords: LC-MS/MS; animal plasma; biomonitoring; mycotoxins; sterigmatocystin.