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The main objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of sodium sulfite (SoS) treatment of maize and its impact on the porcine immune system in the presence of an LPS-induced systemic inflammation. Control maize (CON) and Fusarium-toxin contaminated maize (FUS) were wet-preserved (20% moisture) for 79 days with (+) or without (-) SoS and then included at 10% in a diet, resulting in four experimental groups: CON-, CON+, FUS-, and FUS+ with deoxynivalenol (DON) concentrations of 0.09, 0.05, 5.36, and 0.83 mg DON/kg feed, respectively. After 42-day feeding trial (weaned barrows, n = 20/group), ten pigs per group were challenged intraperitoneally with either 7.5 μg LPS/kg BW or placebo (0.9% NaCl), observed for 2 h, and then sacrificed. Blood, mesenteric lymph nodes, and spleen were collected for phenotyping of different T cell subsets, B cells, and monocytes. Phagocytic activity and intracellular formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) were analyzed in both polymorphonuclear cells (PMN) and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) using flow cytometry. Our results revealed that the impact of DON was more notable on CD3 + CD4 + CD8 + T cells in lymphoid tissues rather than in blood T cells. In contrast, SoS treatment of maize altered leukocyte subpopulations in blood, e.g., reduced the percentage and fluorescence signal of CD8 high T cells. Interestingly, SoS treatment reduced the amount of free radicals in basal ROS-producing PMNs only in LPS-challenged animals, suggesting a decrease in basal cellular ROS production (p SoS*LPS = 0.022).

We investigated the effects of feeding sodium sulfite (SoS) treated uncontaminated and Fusarium contaminated maize in a porcine lipopolysaccharide (LPS) challenge model. Eighty piglets (7.59 ± 0.92 kg body weight [BW]) were equally assigned to one of four experimental diets containing 10% maize, either uncontaminated and untreated (CON-, 0.09 mg deoxynivalenol [DON]/kg diet) or uncontaminated and SoS-treated (CON+, wet-preserved with 5 g SoS/kg maize; 0.05 mg DON/kg diet), or prepared with 10% of a Fusarium contaminated maize containing mainly deoxynivalenol (DON), either contaminated and untreated (FUS-, 5.36 mg DON/kg diet), or contaminated and SoS-treated (FUS+, wet-preserved with 5 g SoS/kg maize; 0.83 mg DON/kg diet). At day 42 of experiment, ten pigs of each group were injected intraperitoneally with either 7.5 µg LPS/kg BW or placebo (0.9% NaCl). At 120 min after injection, blood samples were collected to analyse TNF-α, hematological profile, clinical biochemistry as well as the redox status. A significant increase in body temperature and cytokine TNF-α concentration was observed in the LPS-injected piglets. Results for hematology, clinical chemistry and redox status indicate no effects of SoS treatment, with exception of neutrophil counts being significantly more pronounced after feeding the SoS treated FUS maize. In conclusion, SoS treatment of maize did not modulate the LPS-induced acute inflammation.

The objective of the present study was to demonstrate the efficiency of the decontamination process applied to deoxynivalenol (DON)-contaminated maize by sodium sulphite (Na 2 SO 3 ) treatment in vivo. Additionally, in vitro characterisation of the toxicity of the DON sulphonates (DONS 1, 2 and 3 denote structurally different forms), the resulting DON metabolites, on peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) should substantiate the inactivation of DON. In a piglet experiment, both DON-contaminated maize and -uncontaminated control maize either untreated (DON-, CON-) or Na 2 SO 3 -treated (DON+, CON+) were mixed into feed and fed for 42 d starting from weaning. The results showed that feed intake and daily weight gain of animals fed DON- were significantly lower compared to animals fed CON- and CON+, whereas group DON+ reached the control level or even exceeded it. The feed-to-gain ratio was unaffected (p = 0.45). Furthermore, DON concentrations in plasma markedly reflected the diets' DON concentrations. These were < 0.1, < 0.1, 5.4 and 0.8 mg/kg feed for CON-, CON+, DON- and DON+, and amounted to 0.3, 0.4, 33.0 and 9.3 ng/ml in plasma, respectively. Whereas DONS 2 and 3 were detected in the DON+ diet, only DONS 2 was recovered in plasma. Regarding the toxicity of DONS, no or much lower toxicity was found compared to DON. DONS 1 and Na 2 SO 3 did not affect the viability of PBMC. At 32.71μM DONS2 the viability was reduced by 50% and thus this compound was less toxic than DON by a factor of 73. Consequently, wet preservation of maize with Na 2 SO 3 was an effective tool to avoid the adverse effects of DON on performance of piglets.

A feeding experiment with piglets was performed to examine the efficacy of a wet preservation of Fusarium (FUS)-contaminated maize with sodium sulphite (SoS) based on deoxynivalenol (DON) and zearalenone (ZEN) residue levels in urine, bile and liquor and health traits of piglets. For this purpose, 80 castrated male piglets (7.57 ± 0.92 kg BW) were assigned to four treatment groups: CON- (control diet, with 0.09 mg DON and <0.01 mg ZEN/kg diet), CON+ (diet CON-, wet-preserved with 5 g SoS/kg maize; containing 0.05 mg DON and <0.01 mg ZEN/kg diet), FUS- (diet with mycotoxin-contaminated maize; containing 5.36 mg DON and 0.29 mg ZEN/kg diet), and FUS+ (diet FUS-, wet-preserved with 5 g SoS/kg maize; resulting in 0.83 mg DON and 0.27 mg ZEN/kg diet). After 42 d, 40 piglets (n = 10 per group) were sampled. A clear reduction of DON levels by approximately 75% was detected in all specimens of pigs fed diet FUS+. ZEN was detected in all urine, bile and liquor samples, while their metabolites were only detectable in urine and bile. Additionally, their concentrations were not influenced by SoS treatment. Among the health-related traits, feeding of FUS diets increased the total counts of leukocytes and segmented neutrophil granulocytes irrespective of SoS treatment. SoS treatment increased the total blood protein content slightly with a similar numerical trend in albumin concentration. These effects occurred at an obviously lower level in FUS-fed groups. Moreover, SoS treatment recovered the reduction of NO production induced by feeding diet FUS- indicating an effect on the redox level. As this effect only occurred in group FUS+, it is obviously related to the adverse effects of the Fusarium toxins. In conclusion, treatment of FUS-contaminated maize with SoS decreased the inner exposure with DON as indicated by the lower DON levels in various piglet specimens. However, health-related traits did not consistently reflect this decreased exposure.

The Discrete Element Method is used for the simulation of particulate systems to describe and analyze them, to predict and afterwards optimize their behavior for single stages of a process or even an entire process. For the simulation with occurring particle-particle and particle-wall contacts, the value of the coefficient of restitution is required. It can be determined experimentally. The coefficient of restitution depends on several parameters like the impact velocity. Especially for fine particles the impact velocity depends on the air pressure and under atmospheric pressure high impact velocities cannot be reached. For this, a new experimental setup for free-fall tests under vacuum conditions is developed. The coefficient of restitution is determined with the impact and rebound velocity which are detected by a high-speed camera. To not hinder the view, the vacuum chamber is made of glass. Also a new release mechanism to drop one single particle under vacuum conditions is constructed. Due to that, all properties of the particle can be characterized beforehand.

Deoxynivalenol (DON) exposure of pigs might cause serious problems when critical dietary toxin concentrations are exceeded. As DON contamination of agricultural crops cannot be completely prevented, detoxification measures are needed. Wet preservation with sodium sulfite resulted in a significant DON reduction of naturally-contaminated maize in previous experiments. The preserved material had a characteristic DON sulfonates (DONS) pattern. DONS is known to be less toxic than DON but its stability was shown to depend on pH, which gives rise to the question if a back-conversion to DON occurs in vivo. Therefore, the toxicokinetics and bioavailability of DON and DONS were studied in pigs. After the administration of a single oral or intravenous bolus of DON or DONS, serial blood samples were collected and subsequently analyzed. DONS was not detectable after oral administration of DONS mixtures. The results showed further that the bioavailability of DONS as DON in pigs fed maize preserved wet with sodium sulfite was significantly decreased compared to untreated control maize (DON), indicating that DONS obviously did not convert back to DON to a large extent in vivo. Moreover, the fact that DONS was not detectable in systemic blood requires further investigations regarding their ingestive and/or metabolic fate.

Under moderate climatic conditions, deoxynivalenol (DON) contamination occurs frequently on cereals. Detoxification measures are required to avoid adverse effects on farm animals. In the present study, a wet preservation method with sodium sulfite (Na2SO3) and propionic acid was tested to titrate the optimum Na2SO3-dose for maximum DON reduction of contaminated maize kernels and meal and to examine the interaction between dose and moisture content in dependence on the preservation duration. The DON concentration decreased with increasing amounts of supplemented Na2SO3 and with increasing duration of the preservation period in a bi-exponential fashion. Additionally, the feed structure and moisture content had a significant influence on the decontaminating effect. Variants with 30% moisture content favored higher DON reduction rates compared to 14% moisture, but especially at low moisture contents, DON reduction was more pronounced in maize kernels than in maize meal. In addition to the decrease of DON, a concomitant formation of three different DON sulfonates was observed which differed in their formation pattern over the time course of preservation. The overall results and statistical analysis clarified that Na2SO3 addition of 10 g/kg maize at 30% moisture for eight days was necessary to obtain a complete DON reduction.