Assessment of deoxynivalenol metabolite profiles in UK adults

Deoxynivalenol (DON) requires no activation for toxicity, though susceptibility may reflect individual variations in detoxification. This study reports the measurement of un-metabolised urinary DON (free DON) and DOM-1 in samples previously analysed for the combined measure of free DON + DON-glucuronide (fD + DG), with a concentration >5 ng/ml, for 34 UK adults. Four consecutive daily urine samples were analysed from twenty-two individuals, whilst from 12 individuals only a single sample was analysed. The mean (median) concentration of urinary fD + DG in this sub-set was 17.8 ng/ml (13.8 ng/ml), range 5.0–78.2 ng/ml. In 23/34 (68%) individuals, free DON was detected, mean 2.4 ng/ml; range 0.5–9.3 ng/ml. Urinary DOM-1 was detected in 1/34 (3%) of individuals; present at ∼1% of urinary fD + DG concentration for that individual. The concentration of fD + DG combined was significantly correlated with urinary free DON (p < 0.001, R2 = 0.65), but not with the percentage of free DON to fD + DG (p = 0.615, R2 = 0.01), suggesting that the level of DON exposure did not affect the metabolism to DG within the range observed. In this survey most individuals had no detectable urinary DOM-1 and 68% did not detoxify all of the ingested DON to DON-glucuronide. This study needs to be extended to understand whether the fD / DG ratio provides a phenotypic measure of DON susceptibility.