Study of the potential toxicity of commercial crispy breads by evaluation of bioaccessibility and bioavailability of minor Fusarium mycotoxins

Enniatins (ENs) are bioactive compounds produced by the secondary metabolism of several Fusarium strains and known to have several biological activities, such as acting as enzyme inhibitors, antifungal and antibacterial agents, and immunomodulatory substances. This study has investigated the ENs bioaccessibility, spiked in commercial wheat crispy bread at 1.5 and 3.0 μmol/g concentrations, their transepithelial transport and bioavailability using Caco-2 cells as a model of the human intestinal epithelium. The content (%) of the four ENs contained in the gastric fluid has resulted variable from 69% to 91%, considering the two concentrations assayed. The mean bioaccessibility data for the compounds studied, resulted of 80%. The compounds that evidenced the highest absorption, using the in vitro model which simulated the transepithelial transport, were the EN A (70.8 ± 1.3% of absorption) and A1 (73.8 ± 0.9%) at 1.5 and 3.0 μmol/g concentrations, respectively. The compound with the lowest transport value (50.7 ± 1.3%) was the EN A at 3.0 μmol/g concentration. The bioavailability data evidenced by the other ENs employed ranged from 55.2 ± 1.1% to 66.1 ± 1.0%.