Infertility caused by zearalenone, an endocrine disrupting substance

Abstract

The 5 major mycotoxins causing impairments in the growth and reproductive ability of livestock are aflatoxin, zearalenone, deoxynivalenol, ochratoxin, and ergot.¹⁾ The first reported case of zearalenone (ZEN) toxicity was by McNutt in 1928, who described a pig with the main symptom of vulvovaginitis due to moldy corn.²⁾ Since then, there have been many similar reports in North America, Europe, Australia, and other places.^{3, 4)} Today, ZEN is widely known as an estrogenic mycotoxin. However, the toxicity of ZEN is transient, and it only very rarely leads to death. ZEN is nowadays sold on the market and used in low doses as a growth promoter in the livestock industry with cattle, sheep, and young pigs raised for meat, where the focus is on these effects rather than the toxicosis it produces.We herein present findings demonstrating that the administration of ZEN can induce persistent anovular estrus and irreversible infertility. We also briefly discuss the toxicity of ZEN as an endocrine-disrupting chemical, which differs from its toxicoses reported to date.