Tenuazonic acid is one of the major Alternaria mycotoxins commonly found as a natural contaminant in food (LD50 = 548 μg/egg in the chicken embryo toxicity assay). Tenuazonic acid contamination has been linked to esophageal cancer in human populations at risk of high exposure. Mice fed 100 mg/kg/day tenuazonic acid orally for 10 months developed precancerous lesions on the esophageal mucosa. Microscopic analysis of mucosal epithelial cells from these tenuazonic acid-treated animals reveal pyknosis and marked pleomorphisms in the nuclei, chromatin granulation and increased chromatin mass, irregularities in nuclear contours, and vacuolization in nucleoplasms.
