Occurrence of ochratoxin A and heavy metals in tissues associated with porcine nephropathy in Serbia

Abstract

In order to find information on the occurrence of mycotoxic porcine nephropathy in Serbia, during a six month period (2006/2007) samples of blood, kidney and liver from individual animals were collected from healthy slaughtered pigs (n=90) and analysed by HPLC for ochratoxin A (OTA). In addition, the presence of nephrotoxic heavy metals such as cadmium, lead, mercury and arsenic were measured and the kidneys pathohistologically examined. Of the 90 liver samples, 26.6% contained OTA in the range of 0.22-14.5 ng/g. The incidence of OTA in serum and kidney were very similar (30 and 31.1%), but varied between 0.24-220.8 ng/ml and 0.17-52.5 ng/g, respectively. The presence of mercury was confirmed in 33.3% of kidney samples and concentrations ranged between 0.005-0.055 mg/kg, while cadmium was found less frequently (27.7% positive samples) but at higher levels (0.05-1.23 mg/kg). The presence of arsenic was found in only one sample, while lead was not detected in any sample. Histopathological examination of kidneys confirmed tubulopathies with oedema and cell vacuolisation. In addition, haemorrhages and necrosis of proximal kidney tubules' cells were found. These findings indicate that it is likely that most of the kidney injury is related to OTA and other nephrotoxic compounds which enhance the toxicity of OTA.