Modelling exposure and effects of mycotoxins in fish (PhD in Environmental Science)

Mycotoxins are naturally occurring toxic secondary metabolites of microscopic filamentous fungi which grow on a variety of food crops used for both human consumption and animal feeds. In animals, ingestion of mycotoxin-contaminated feeds has been associated with organ failure, carcinogenicity, neurotoxicity, immunosuppression, reproductive and developmental toxicity, but much less is known about the impacts of mycotoxins for wildlife. There are concerns that naturally produced mycotoxins could leach from soils into surrounding waterbodies where they could pose a risk to the health of aquatic organisms, including fish. Furthermore, because some mycotoxins can accumulate in body tissues of exposed animals there are concerns that they could also pose a risk to humans ingesting wild fish that have been exposed to mycotoxins. This aims to assess the exposure and effects of mycotoxins in a laboratory freshwater fish species. Fish will be exposed to low (non-toxic) concentrations of mycotoxins and internal body concentrations of the mycotoxins and their metabolites measured to assess uptake, elimination and accumulation of the mycotoxins. Exposure studies to the low concentrations of the mycotoxins will also be conducted to assess impacts on the growth and physiology of the fish. The data generated from these studies will be used to develop a toxicokinetic-toxicodynamic (TKTD) model that could be used by regulators to develop guidelines for maximum permissible levels of mycotoxins in waterbodies and in the tissue of fish destined for human consumption.