Table 1.

Comparative in vivo and in vitro toxic effects of zearalenone and its derivative in pigs.

Sow
Target	Oocyte	Granulosa cells	Hormonal status	Ovary
In vivo	Oocytes with degenerated meiotic chromatin [27]		No modification of progesterone synthesis [27] ↓ FSH [24]	Stimulation of primary and secondary follicles [28] Ovarian follicle atresia [25,26] Delay of maturation of ovarian follicles during preovulatory stage [24]
In vitro	Alteration of spindle formation during meiosis [39] Delay of TI and MII oocyte stage and nuclear malformation [8]	↓ FSH or foskolin- enhanced progesterone [41] Modulation dose- related IGF-induced oestradiol, progesterone and of FSH-induced progesterone [41]

Boar
Target	Hormonal status	Sperm motility	Sperm viability	Chromatin structure
In vivo	↓ testosterone [8]		↓ [28]
In vitro		↓ [44,46]	↓ [44,46]	↓ [44,46]