Comparative Radical Scavenging And Antitoxicogenic Activities Among Butylhydroxytoluene, Thymol And Menthol On Fusarium verticillioides.

DAMBOLENA JS,; LÓPEZ AG,; ZYGADLO JA,; RUBINSTEIN HR.

Córdoba, Argentina

Congreso; Advances in research on toxicogenic fungi and mycotoxins in South America ensuring food and feed safety and myco-globe context; 2006

Objectives: Radical scanvenging activity and the effects of the monoterpenes menthol, thymol, and the synthetic antioxidant butylhydroxytoluene (BHT) were evaluated on growth and fumonisin B1 (FB1) production by F. verticillioides 4036 in liquid cultures. Methods: The MYRO liquid culture was prepared as described previously (1). It was inoculated with 500 uL of a conidia suspension of F. verticillioides MRC 4036. Cultures were incubated with agitation in darkness at 28 ºC for 21 days. The monoterpenes and the BHT were inserted into the flask on the 5th, 10th and 15th day post inoculation, in a final concentration of 0.32 mM. Quantification of FB1 was done as described Shephard, et al. (2). Radical scavenging activity of the monoterpenes and BHT was determined by DPPH assay (3). Results: Thymol was effective decreasing the fungal growth. Besides, menthol and BHT had inhibitory effects on FB1 production, being the BHT action more effective when it was added at the 15th day post-inoculation. In the DPPH assay, only thymol and BHT showed radical scavenging activity. Conclusions: The data obtained in these studies suggests that BHT and menthol could cause inhibition of FB1 production, and their effects depend of the day of insertion. On the other hand, BHT and thymol have radical scavenging activity. References:      1.  Blackwell, B. A., et al. 1994. J. AOAC Int. 77: 506-511.      2.  Shephard, G. S., et al. 1990. Journal of Liquid Chromatography 13:2077-2087.      3.  Gálvez,  et al. 2005. J. Agric. Food Chem. 53, 1927-1933.