The fusarium toxin deoxynivalenol (DON) is the most prevalent mycotoxin occurring in human food and animal feed. It is rapidly absorbed and distributed so that it can be found in human body fluids as urine and breast milk throughout the population. Depending on the dosage and duration, DON exposure first leads to intestinal symptoms as intestinal barrier dysfunction and is further accompanied by neurological, reproductive, immunological disorders. So far, effects of the toxin have been frequently studied in animal- and conventional cell culture models with the known disadvantages. At the FH JOANNEUM, we analyzed the effects of DON on the intestinal barrier in a commercially available 3D gut-on a chip model, allowing to include intestinal/gut flow, extracellular matrix and membrane-free compartmentalization.
