Abstract
BACKGROUND: Tenuazonic acid (TeA), a mycotoxin produced by Alternaria alternata, contaminates various food commodities and
is known to cause acute and chronic health effects. However, the lack of human toxicokinetic (TK) data and the reliance on external
exposure estimates have stalled a comprehensive risk assessment for TeA.
OBJECTIVE: To bridge this gap, a human TK trial and population-based TK (PopTK) modeling were applied to determine human TK
parameters of TeA, and the results were applied for risk screening using population biomonitoring data and threshold of
toxicological concern (TTC)-based approaches.
METHODS: Ten healthy volunteers participated in the TK trial during which the volunteers ingested a bolus dose of TeA at the
(external) TTC (1500 ng/kg bw). Blood, urine, and fecal samples were collected over 48 h and analyzed using UPLC-MS/MS.
Concentration-time profiles were fit with a multi-compartmental PopTK model using a hierarchical Bayesian population structure.
Utilizing a probabilistic framework, fitted TK parameters were used to derive internal TTC (iTTC) values for comparison to blood and
urine biomonitoring data. Risk screening with data from five diverse biomonitoring cohorts was performed using Hazard Quotient
(HQ) and probabilistic individual margin of exposure (IMOE) approaches.
RESULTS: TeA was estimated to have a population median half-life of 1.9 [90% CI: 1.4–2.7] hours and volume of distribution of 4.4
[3.1–6.1] L/kg, with inter-individual variability geometric standard deviations of 2.4- and 1.7-fold, respectively. Probabilistic lower
confidence bound iTTCs were derived of 0.5 nmol/L in blood and 2.53 nmol/kg-d urinary excretion. Risk screening HQs were mostly
>1 for the three blood biomonitoring cohorts and < 1 for the two urinary biomonitoring cohorts; results from probabilistic IMOE
calculations were qualitatively consistent.
SIGNIFICANCE: A comprehensive human TK study was performed for TeA for the first time, demonstrating the importance of
integrating TK and population variability for a more comprehensive risk evaluation, particularly for interpreting biomonitoring data.
The results for TeA point to the critical need for toxicity data to move beyond TTC-based risk screening.
IMPACT:
● A critical gap in food safety research was addressed studying the toxicokinetics of tenuazonic acid (TeA) in humans and using
these data to derive an internal threshold of toxicological concern (iTTC) for comparison to human biomonitoring data. The
innovative approach—combining a human intervention trial with population-based toxicokinetic modeling—accounts for
inter-individual variability and provides a more comprehensive understanding of population exposure to TeA. The resulting
probabilistic iTTC and risk screening methodologies offer improved tools for interpretation of biomonitoring data. These
findings have significant implications for food safety regulations and public health protection, potentially influencing future
mycotoxin risk assessment strategies.