Researchers writing in Toxicology have shown that deoxynivalenol (DON) — a mycotoxin produced by Fusarium species that contaminates wheat, corn, barley, and other cereal crops — induces a p21-mediated G2/M cell-cycle arrest in human dental pulp stem cells. The arrested cells also up-regulated several differentiation markers, suggesting that low-level mycotoxin exposure may push regenerative dental cells out of a proliferative state and toward a partially differentiated one.
Dental pulp stem cells are studied for use in tooth regeneration, bone repair, and neural tissue engineering. The new finding adds DON to the list of environmental contaminants that can compromise the expansion phase of stem cell-based therapies.
DON is the most prevalent trichothecene mycotoxin in the global grain supply and is regulated in food and feed by the FDA, EFSA, and Codex Alimentarius. The study did not test inhalation exposure or human dosing.