Assessment of Functional Yoghurt Efficacy to Decrease the Teratogenic Effects of Aflatoxins on Wistar Rats During Pregnancy

• Grant number: 24/13475-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: October 01, 2024
• End date: September 30, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Medicine - Pathological Anatomy and Clinical Pathology
• Principal Investigator: Leandra Náira Zambelli Ramalho
• Grantee: Giovana Perez Montenegro
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto (FMRP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Ribeirão Preto , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 19/21603-1 - Biomarker approaches for assessing the early life exposure to multiple mycotoxins in the diet, AP.TEM

Abstract

Mycotoxins are secondary metabolites produced by fungi that occur naturally in foodstuffs, which can cause a large variety of toxic effects on vertebrates, including humans. The fact that some mycotoxins are carcinogenic (e.g., aflatoxins) and could be detected in breast milk, food and feedstuffs constitutes a serious human and animal health threat, mainly to children and young animals due to their high physiological vulnerability. The Thematic Project to which this Project of Scientific Initiation (SI) is related is constituted by 8 Work Packages (WP), aiming at advancing in the knowledge concerning the exposure assessment of children to dietary mycotoxins using biomarker approaches and multi-mycotoxin analysis in food, and the development of a functional dairy product containing lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and yeast biomass to reduce the dietary exposure to aflatoxins. In this context, the objective of this SI Project (WP-7) is to assess the efficacy of the functional yoghurt developed in another Work Package of the Thematic Project (WP-6) to decrease the teratogenic effects of aflatoxins on Wistar rats during pregnancy.