Abstract

Fumonisin are considered as agriculturally important mycotoxin produced by Fusarium verticillioides and F. proliferatum which frequently contaminate the maize and its products worldwide.They can be divided into four main series (A, B, C and P) with the B series, mainly FB1, FB2 and FB3 as most abundant naturally occurring fumonisin. FB1 is the most prevalent and toxic fumonisin compound and chemically described as a diester of propane-1, 2, 3-tricarboxylic acid (TCA) and 2-amino-12, 16-dimethyl -3, 5, 10, 14, 15-penta hydroxylcosane. These are polar soluble in water and aqueous solutions such as methanol and acetonitrile. Fumonisin, the potent mycotoxin causes several diseases in animals such as blind staggers and leukoencephalomalacia in horses, pulmonary oedema in swine and hepatic cancer in rat, nephrotoxicity and hepatotoxicity in cattle, whereas oesophageal cancer and neural tube defects in humans. There is also suggestive evidence that mycotoxins modulate human immunity and may contribute to growth impairment in children In this review fumonisin extraction, purification, toxicity as well as it’s impacts on animal and human health will be studied in light of the almost recent literature.