Effects of dietary exposure to fumonisins from Fusarium moniliforme culture material (M-1325) on the reproductive performance of female mink.

Adult female mink (Mustela vison) were fed diets that contained Fusarium moniliforme culture material that provided low- or high-dose dietary concentrations of 86 or 200 ppm fumonisin B1, 22 or 42 ppm fumonisin B2, and 7 or 12 ppm fumonisin B3, respectively, from approximately two weeks prior to breeding through gestation and lactation. Breeding performance of the females was not affected by consumption of the fumonisin diets. However, 58% of the mated females fed the high-dose diet (254 ppm total fumonisins) whelped compared to 100% of those fed the control and low-dose diets (115 ppm fumonisins). There was a statistically significant, dose-dependent decrease in kit (young mink) body weights at birth and a notable, but non-significant, decrease in litter size. The percentage of stillborn kits was directly proportional to the concentration of fumonisins in the dams' diets. Fumonisin concentrations in milk collected from those fed the high-dose diets were approximately 0.7% of the dietary fumonisin concentrations. Lactational exposure to fumonisins did not significantly decrease kit survival from birth through three weeks of age. Hepatic cell vacuolation was present in 25% of the control and 80% of the high-dose adults. No treatment-related gross or histologic lesions were observed in the kit mink. Numerous differences in hematologic and serum chemical parameters were noted between the control and fumonisin-exposed mink.