Table 1.

Toxic effects of different fungal toxins and protective effects and mechanisms of quercetin.

Fungi	Fusarium		Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus parasiticus	Aspergillus ochratoxin, Aspergillussulphureus
Mycotoxins	Deoxynivalenol (DON)	Zearalenone (ZEN)	Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1)	Ochratoxin A (OTA)
Structure
Main area of action	Gastrointestinal and immune system	Reproductive organs	Liver, spleen, kidney	Liver, kidney
Main toxic effects	Fine cell and body fluid mediated, inhibition of protein synthesis	Lipid peroxidation, mitochondrial pathway, and DNA damage	Mutagenic, deformogenic, and carcinogenic	Hepatotoxicity, nephrotoxicity, teratogenicity, and immunosuppression
Protective effect of quercetin	Protects caco-2 cells from damage	Protects HEK293 and HCT116 cells and inhibits apoptosis	Improves the brain, enhances learning and memory, inhibits biotransformation of AFB1, and delays degenerative neurological diseases	Protects cells from damage
Protective mechanism of quercetin	Inhibits the production of ROS and increases cellular activity	Inhibits ROS production, antioxidant activity, and reduces ER256 levels	Increases GSH levels, competes with AFB1 for binding sites, increases glutathione peroxidase levels, increases oxidative dismutase activity, and reduces lipid peroxidation reaction	Activation of PI3K/AKT signaling pathway and reduction of ROS levels
References	[24,25,35]	[54,55,56,57]	[37,39,40,42,44]	[50,58]