Submit Manuscript | http://medcraveonline.com Introduction Mycotoxin contamination of agriculture commodities has become a natural phenomenon in many parts of the world. This may be due to favorable environmental condition prevalent in those regions coupled with the traditional method of crop cultivation, harvesting, handling and storage, all of which ultimately lead to severe mold growth and mycotoxin production in these agriculture commodities. The most frequently contaminated foods with mycotoxins producing molds include sorghum, corn, and wheat grains. 1 The isolated fungi were found to have the ability to produce Afatoxin B 1 AFB 1 and T 2 toxin. The risk of sorghum contamination by mycotoxins is related to mycofora associated with the sorghum grain. The genus Fusarium was the most prevalent component of the internal seed borne mycofora, genera Alternaria, phoma, penicillium and Aspergillus were also isolated whereas, the predominant Fusarium was Fusarium moniliforme and the most frequently isolated species of Alternaria, Phoma. Penicillium and Aspergillius were Alternaria, Penicillium sorghuma, Penicillium funiculosum and Aspergillus favus, respectively. Diener et al., 2 Gonzalez et al. 3 Outbreaks of afatoxicosis in farm animals have been reported from many areas of the world. The liver is mainly affected in such outbreaks and also in experimental studies on animals, including nonhuman primates. The acute liver lesions are characterized by necrosis of the hepatocytes and biliary proliferation, and chronic manifestations may include fbrosis. A feed level of afatoxin as low as 300µg/kg can induce chronic afatoxicosis in pigs within 3-4 months Kusak et al. 4 In animals, ingested afatoxins may be metabolically degraded. Afatoxin B 1 may be converted into afatoxin M 1 which may occur in the milk. The concentration of afatoxin M 1 in the milk of cows is about 300 times lower than the concentration of Afatoxin B 1 consumed in the feed. In certain experimental animals, only small amounts of administered afatoxins have been found in tissues, 24h after injection. 5,6 Afatoxin B 1 is a liver carcinogen in at least 8 species including nonhuman primates. Dose-response relationships have been established in studies on rats and rainbow trout, with a 10% tumour incidence estimated to occur at feed levels of afatoxin B 1 of 1µg/ kg, and 0.1µg/kg, respectively. 7 In some studies, carcinomas of the colon and kidney have been observed in rats treated with afatoxins. 8 Afatoxin B 1 causes chromosomal aberrations and DNA breakage in plant and animal cells and after microsomal activation, gene mutations in several bacterial test systems. 9 In high doses, it may be teratogenic. 10 Fumonisin B 1 has been detected in maize and maize- based products worldwide at mg/kg levels, sometimes in combination with other mycotoxins. Concentrations at mg/kg levels have also been reported in food for human consumption. 11 Available correlation studies from the Transkei, South Africa, suggested a link between dietary fumonisin exposure and oesophageal cancer. 12 It is worthy to report that sorghum grain is one of the most popular feed and food in Egypt, questions arise concerning the detection and the prevalence of Afatoxins and Fumonisin B1 and toxigenic fungi in Egyptian sorghum grain. This study attempted to assess some crop situation with respect to Afatoxin and Fumonisin B 1 through detecting the residues of these toxins as well as the incidence of toxigenic and other fungi in Egyptian sorghum grain. However attention was focused on Fusarium moniliform and Aspergillis parasiticus being the most common fungi responsible of Fumonisin and Afatoxin production. In addition the Toxigenicity of isolated Fusarium moniliform and Aspergillis parasiticus were studied. Materials and methods Materials Sorghum grain samples: Total of 48 sorghum grain samples were collected from different Egyptian Governorates (i.e. Cairo, Kaluobia. Al-Gharbia, Alexandria, Assute and Sohag) One kilogram of each sample was stored in polyethylene bag for the isolation of fungi and determination of Afatoxins and Fumonisin B 1 . MOJ Toxicol. 2017;3(3):51‒56. 51 © 2017 Osman et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and build upon your work non-commercially. Fungi and mycotoxins associated with egyptian sorghum grains Volume 3 Issue 3 - 2017 Osman MA, 1 Salama A, 1 Naguib KHM, 2 Abdel-Wahhab MA, 2 Sherif SR 2 1 Department of Food Science and Technology, Alazher University, Egypt 2 Department of Food Toxicology and Contaminant, Egypt Correspondence: Sherif Ramzy, Department of Food Toxicology and Contaminant, National Research Center, Dokki, Giza, Egypt, Email sheriframzy4@gmail.com Received: June 18, 2017 | Published: June 27, 2017 Abstract The aim of the present work was to study the infected fungi and the mycotoxins contamination in Egyptian sorghum grains collected from different governorates. Forty eight sorghum grain samples were collected from six governorates (Cairo, Kaliobia, Gharbia, Alexandaria, Assute, and Sohage). Isolation and identifcation of fungi and the determination of mycotoxins (i.e. Afatoxins Afs and Fumonisin FB 1 ) were carried out. The results revealed that all samples were infected with at least one of fungi species. Nineteen fungi species belonging to fve genera were isolated and identifed from the investigated sorghum grain samples. Moreover, the result indicated that samples collected from Assute governorate were found to be more infected compared with the other governorates, meanwhile; samples collected from Kaliobia were found to be the lesser infected. All Aspergellus parasiticus and Fusarium moniliform isolated from sorghum grains were found to have the ability to produce Afs and FB 1 . In the same respect, results showed that afatoxins were detected in 33.3 % (16 out of 48) of the investigated samples with levels ranged from 0.17µg/kg to 499µg/kg, while FB 1 was detected in 16.6 % (8 out of 48) of investigated samples with levels ranged from 7.2 to 129.5µg/kg. It is worthy to mention that the contamination levels of the investigated samples with afatoxins were found below the Maximum Residue Limits (MRLs) established by International agencies or by the Egyptian standards. MOJ Toxicology Research Article Open Access