Evaluation of acute and chronic exposure to aflatoxin B1in indigenous women of the Huasteca Potosina, Mexico

Aflatoxin B-1(AFB(1)) is one of the most studied mycotoxins due to its high occurrence in food and its hepatotoxic, immunosuppressive, carcinogenic, childhood growth, genotoxic, mutagenic, and teratogenic effects in humans and animals. Exposure to AFB(1)is reported to be both, acute and chronic; the main exposure pathway to AFB(1)is through the intake of contaminated food. In Mexico, although the reports of several studies addressing the problem of aflatoxins in maize and other foods, the evidence has been centered on exposure to AFB(1)and to the quantification of the Aflatoxins themselves, but there is null evidence about genotoxic effects of aflatoxins in vulnerable populations. Therefore, this study focused on assessing chronic AFB(1)exposure through the AFB(1)-lys biomarker adduct and acute exposure through total AFB(1)-DNA adducts in women from a rural indigenous community in the Huasteca Potosina (Mexico). A hundred percent of the studied population presented total AFB(1)-DNA and AFB(1)-lys adducts in concentrations of 1.08 (0.48-1.34) mu mol of adduct/mol of DNA and 2.33 (1.08-102.6) pg/mg of albumin respectively (median (min-max)). Thus, continuous monitoring and important changes in regulations are desired and recommended. The results in this study provide enough evidence to support the toxic effects that the exposure to AFB(1)represents, as well as the population risk that it poses, and in the same sense, the current need to create an intervention program that directly influences the control of the sources of exposure in order to reduce it.