Objectives: The current study tried to determine the effects of exposure to fumonisins on kidney and liver func-tions tests and sphingolipid metabo-lites.
Patients & Methods: 80 apparently healthy participants of Area 1(A1) that was considered as area heavily contaminated by fumonisins and Area 2 (A2) that was considered as low con-tamination area. Ten urban volunteers were enrolled as a control group. All participants underwent full history taking, complete clinical examination with special regard to liver and kidney and gave blood samples for estimation of serum levels of aspartate transami-nase (AST), alanine transaminase (ALT), urea, creatinine, and plasma lipid profile, and ELISA estimation of plasma sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) levels
Results: The mean levels of serum AST, ALT, urea, and creatinine were significantly higher, while plasma lev-els of high-density lipoprotein (HDL-c) and S1P were significantly lower in samples of study participants in com-parison to samples of controls, with significant differences between partici-pants of both groups. Duration of ex-posure showed a positive correlation with estimated serum AST, ALT, urea, and creatinine while showing a negative correlation with estimated levels of plasma HDL-c and S1P. Esti-mated plasma S1P showed a negative correlation with participants' age and serum levels of AST, ALT, urea, and creatinine while showing a positive significant correlation with plasma levels of HDL-c. Regression analysis defined long duration and severity of exposure and older age as predictors for low plasma S1P, which is a predic-tor for impaired liver enzymes levels, kidney affection, and low plasma HDL-c.
Conclusion: Chronic fumonisin expo-sure deleteriously, but gradually af-fects kidney and liver functions, either directly or through disturbing the sphingolipid metabolism and depletion of sphingosine. Low serum levels of S1P were found to correlate with renal and hepatic affection and could be used as an early marker for the detec-tion of such change |
