Influence of probiotic microorganisms on aflatoxins B 1 and B 2 bioaccessibility evaluated with a simulated gastrointestinal digestion F. Saladino a , E. Posarelli b , C. Luz a , F.B. Luciano c , M.T. Rodriguez-Estrada b , J. Mañes a , G. Meca a, * a Laboratory of Food Chemistry and Toxicology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Valencia,Av. Vicent Andrés Estellés s/n, 46100 Burjassot, Spain b Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Agro-Alimentari, Alma Mater Studiorum-Università di Bologna, Viale G. Fanin 40, 40127 Bologna, BO, Italy c School of Life Sciences, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Paraná, Rua Imaculada Conceição 1155, 80215-901 Curitiba, Brazil A R T I C L E I N F O Article history: Received 7 October 2016 Received in revised form 12 January 2017 Accepted 18 January 2017 Available online xxx Keywords: Aflatoxins Bioaccessibility Probiotic bacteria Lactobacillus Bifidobacterium A B S T R A C T Aflatoxins (AFs) are produced mainly by the molds Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus. Aflatoxin B 1 (AFB 1 ) is classified as carcinogenic to humans. The aim of this study was to evaluate the capacity of different strains of Lactobacilli (Lb.) and Bifidobacteria (Bf.) to reduce the bioaccessibility of AFB 1 and aflatoxin B 2 (AFB 2 ), spiked in loaf bread, using a dynamic in vitro simulated gastrointestinal digestion system. Aliquots of 20 mL of gastric and duodenal fluids were sampled for the determination of the mycotoxins gastric and duodenal bioaccessibility respectively, by liquid-chromatography coupled to the mass spectrometry in tandem (LC–MS/MS). A reduction of AFs bioaccessibility compared to the control (digestion without bacterial strains) was evidenced. The strains that evidenced the highest gastric and duodenal bioaccessibility reductions of AFB 1 and AFB 2 were Lb. johnsoni CECT 289, Lb. reuteri CECT 725, Lb. plantarum CECT 220 and Lb. casei CECT 4180, with values ranging from 76.38 to 98.34% for AFB 1 and from 77.14 to 98.66% for AFB 2 . These results suggest that a food enriched with specific probiotic microorganisms and consumed at the same time as food contaminated with AFs, could reduce the risk associated to the intake of these toxic compounds contained in food. © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Aflatoxins (AFs), a group of structurally related toxic secondary metabolites of fungi, are primarily produced by Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus, groups of fungi that could be found in corn, nuts, peanuts, coconut, dried fruits and beer (Frenich et al., 2009; Li et al., 2009a,b; Williams et al., 2004). There are four major AFs named as B 1 , B 2 , G 1 and G 2 . Among them, aflatoxin B 1 (AFB 1 ) is classified as a carcinogenic substance of group 1 by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) as it may interfere with the inductive of specific enzymes and forbid the synthesis of RNA 5 (IARC, 2012; Merrick et al., 2013; Wild and Montesano, 2009). Owing to the highly resistance to degradation during food processing, AFB 1 could enter the food chain and provide a threat to human health (Castells et al., 2007). Therefore, the regulatory limits for AFs (B 1 + B 2 + G 1 + G 2 ), even for AFB 1 , have been established in several countries. The European Commission has set strict limits for the maximum allowed levels (MAL) of AFB 1 in ground-nuts, dried fruits and their products, in which the MAL of AFB 1 could not be greater than 2 mg kg 1 for Retail Ready Foods (Van Egmond,1995). It has been proved that the intake of AFB 1 over a long time may be dangerous even at a very low concentration. Therefore, the assays with high sensitivity and specificity are required to determine AFs at trace level in foods and agricultural products. Even though the consumption of food contaminated with AFs should be strictly avoided due to its toxicity and carcinogenic effect, several studies show presence of AFs in different cereal products (Saladino et al., 2017; Iqbal et al., 2014; Serrano et al., 2012), sometimes above the limits enforced by the European legislation. For this reason different strategies have been devel- oped to prevent the growth of mycotoxin producing fungi on food and feed, as well as to decontaminate and/or detoxify mycotoxin- contaminated products. One of the most used strategy to reduce the mycotoxins bioaccessibility during the gastrointestinal diges- tion is the employment of probiotic bacteria. Lb. and Bf. have shown AF-binding ability. This mechanism is unclear but it is suggested that is a physical phenomenon associated with bacterial cell wall * Corresponding author. E-mail address: giuseppe.meca@uv.es (G. Meca). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jfca.2017.01.010 0889-1575/© 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Journal of Food Composition and Analysis xxx (2016) xxx–xxx G Model YJFCA 2824 No. of Pages 5 Please cite this article in press as: F. Saladino, et al., Influence of probiotic microorganisms on aflatoxins B 1 and B 2 bioaccessibility evaluated with a simulated gastrointestinal digestion, J. Food Compos. Anal. (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jfca.2017.01.010 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Food Composition and Analysis journal homepage: www.else vie r.com/locat e/jfca