How yeast cell wall components can alleviate mycotoxicosis in animal production and improve the safety of edible animal products

Abstract

Several authors have reported that the addition of yeast cell walls to contaminated feeds alleviates the harmful effects of mycotoxins, but nothing is known on the chemical interactions between the binder and the toxins. We showed that β-D-glucans are the yeast component responsible for the complexation of mycotoxins, and that the reticular organization of β-D-glucans and the distribution between β-(1,3)-D-glucans and β-(1,6)-D-glucans play a major role in the efficacy. Weak hydrogen and van der Waals bonds are involved in the complexation of mycotoxins by β-D-glucans, thus indicating that the chemical interaction is more of "adsorption type" than "binding type". We performed molecular modelling and calculated potential energy to estimate the stability of the complexes.