Mycotoxins: Research on Trichothecenes, Aflatoxin, Ochratoxin & More
360 papers · Curated by Lauren Lowenstein, The Biotoxin Lady
When people hear "toxic mold," what they usually mean is mycotoxins.
Mycotoxins are chemical compounds some molds make, essentially their defense system. Indoors, they ride on spores and tiny fragments, settle into dust, and get breathed in. Some of the best studied:
- Trichothecenes (including satratoxins) from Stachybotrys and related molds
- Aflatoxins, mostly from Aspergillus species
- Ochratoxin A, from Aspergillus and Penicillium
- Gliotoxin, linked to Aspergillus fumigatus
This hub holds about 360 peer-reviewed papers on mycotoxins and human health: how they're produced in water-damaged buildings, how they affect immune, neurological and inflammatory pathways, and how researchers measure them.
Here's the nuance I want you to have: mycotoxins are one part of the biotoxin picture, not the whole thing. A water-damaged building also contains bacteria, endotoxins, actinobacteria and more, and in CIRS it's the body's inflammatory response to all of it that keeps people stuck. That's why the Shoemaker approach centers on objective biomarkers and DNA-based environmental testing, not one toxin.
Want to know where to begin? My Where do I start? guide walks you through screening, labs and testing your home.
Educational only, not medical advice.
— Lauren Lowenstein, The Biotoxin Lady · Last reviewed October 19, 2026
Key facts
- Mycotoxins are secondary metabolites made by certain molds. Not every mold makes them, and production depends on species and conditions.
- Major classes in the research include trichothecenes, aflatoxins, ochratoxin A and gliotoxin.
- Indoors, mycotoxins can travel on spores and small fragments and collect in settled dust.
- In CIRS, mycotoxins are one of several biotoxin triggers in water-damaged buildings.
Key research papers
- The biocontaminants and complexity of damp indoor spaces: more than what meets the eyes
Thrasher J et al. · Toxicology and Industrial Health · 2009
- Molds and Mycotoxins in Indoor Environments — A Survey in Water-Damaged Buildings
Bloom E et al. · Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene · 2009
- Microbiologicals for deactivating mycotoxins
Schatzmayr G et al. · Molecular Nutrition & Food Research · 2006
- Biological detoxification of fungal toxins and its use in plant breeding, feed and food production
Karlovsky P · Natural Toxins · 1997
- Antigenotoxic studies of different substances to reduce the DNA damage induced by aflatoxin B(1) and ochratoxin A
Madrigal-Santillan E et al. · Toxins · 2010
- Prevalence of Aspergillus-Derived Mycotoxins (Ochratoxin, Aflatoxin, and Gliotoxin) and Their Distribution in the Urinalysis of ME/CFS Patients
Ting Yu Wu et al. · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · 2022
- Mycotoxins in crude building materials from water-damaged buildings
Tuomi T et al. · Applied and Environmental Microbiology · 2000
- Exposure to Mycotoxins and Its Importance in Public Health
Dulce D. Cordero-Mendoza et al. · European Journal of Nutrition & Food Safety · 2023
- Detection of Mycotoxins in Patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Joseph Brewer et al. · Toxins · 2013
- Strategies to prevent mycotoxin contamination of food and animal feed: a review
Kabak B et al. · Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition · 2006
- A water-damaged home and health of occupants: a case study
Thrasher J et al. · Journal of Environmental and Public Health · 2012
- Trichothecene mycotoxins activate inflammatory response in human macrophages
Kankkunen P et al. · The Journal of Immunology · 2009
- Trichothecene mycotoxins in aerosolized conidia of Stachybotrys atra
Sorenson WG et al. · Applied and Environmental Microbiology · 1987
- Modulation of lipopolysaccharide-induced proinflammatory cytokine production by satratoxins and other macrocyclic trichothecenes in the murine macrophage
Chung YJ et al. · Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health · 2003
- Mass Spectrometry-Based Strategy for Direct Detection and Quantification of Some Mycotoxins Produced by Stachybotrys and Aspergillus spp. in Indoor Environments
Bloom E et al. · Applied and Environmental Microbiology · 2007
- Can low level exposure to ochratoxin-A cause parkinsonism?
Sava V et al. · Journal of the Neurological Sciences · 2006
- Detection of AirborneStachybotrys chartarumMacrocyclic Trichothecene Mycotoxins on Particulates Smaller than Conidia
Brasel TL et al. · Applied and Environmental Microbiology · 2005
- Mycotoxin-degradation profile of Rhodococcus strains
Cserháti M et al. · International Journal of Food Microbiology · 2013
- Production of Satratoxin G and H Is Tightly Linked to Sporulation in Stachybotrys chartarum
Katharina Tribelhorn et al. · Toxins · 2022
- Effects of mycotoxins on cytokine production and proliferation in EL-4 thymoma cells
Marin ML et al. · Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health · 1996
- Ochratoxigenic fungi associated with green coffee beans (Coffea arabica L.) in conventional and organic cultivation in Brazil
de Fatima Rezende E et al. · Brazilian Journal of Microbiology · 2013
- The Efficacy of a Novel Water-Soluble Anti-Mycotoxin Solution in Improving Broiler Chicken Performance Under Mycotoxin Challenge
Sayantani Sihi et al. · Toxins · 2025
- Food‐Origin Mycotoxin‐Induced Neurotoxicity: Intend to Break the Rules of Neuroglia Cells
Xingyao Pei et al. · Oxidative Medicine and Cellular Longevity · 2021
- Mycotoxins and mycotoxigenic fungi in spices and mixed spices: a review
N. Syamilah et al. · Food Research · 2022
- Modulation of intestinal functions following mycotoxin ingestion: meta-analysis of published experiments in animals
Grenier B et al. · Toxins · 2013
- Risk from inhaled mycotoxins in indoor office and residential environments
Kelman BJ et al. · International Journal of Toxicology · 2004
- Microbial detoxification of mycotoxins
McCormick SP · Journal of Chemical Ecology · 2013
- Effects of Intranasal Exposure to Spores of Stachybotrys atra in Mice
Nikulin M et al. · Toxicological Sciences · 1997
- Metabolic profiling as a powerful tool for the analysis of cellular alterations caused by 20 mycotoxins in HepG2 cells
Andrea Gerdemann et al. · Archives of Toxicology · 2022
- Exposure to Mycotoxins: Neurological Disorders and Psychiatric Manifestations
Mojtaba Ehsanifar et al. · OBM Neurobiology · 2026
- Satratoxin G from the Black Mold Stachybotrys chartarum Evokes Olfactory Sensory Neuron Loss and Inflammation in the Murine Noseand Brain
Islam Z et al. · Environmental Health Perspectives · 2006
- Localization of Satratoxin-G in Stachybotrys chartarum Spores and Spore-Impacted Mouse Lung Using Immunocytochemistry
Gregory L et al. · Toxicologic Pathology · 2004
- Surface binding of toxins and heavy metals by probiotics
Zoghi A et al. · Mini-Reviews in Medicinal Chemistry · 2014
- ToxigenicFusariumspp. as Determinants of Trichothecene Mycotoxins in Settled Grain Dust
Halstensen AS et al. · Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene · 2006
- Mycotoxin Adducts on Human Serum Albumin: Biomarkers of Exposure to Stachybotrys chartarum
Yike I et al. · Environmental Health Perspectives · 2006
- Aflatoxin and ochratoxin A contamination of retail foods and intake of these mycotoxins in Japan. Food Addit Contam Part A Chem Anal Control Expo Risk Assess
Kumagai S et al. · 2008
- Efficacy of a commercial mycotoxins binder in alleviating effects of ochratoxin A, fumonisin B1, moniliformin and zearalenone in adult mink
Bursian SJ et al. · Veterinary and human toxicology · 2004
- Fusarial toxins: secondary metabolites of Fusarium fungi
Nesic K et al. · Reviews of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology · 2014
- Detection of trichothecene mycotoxins in sera from individuals exposed to Stachybotrys chartarum in indoor environments
Brasel TL et al. · Archives of Environmental Health An International Journal · 2004
- Trichothecene mycotoxins in the dust of ventilation systems in office buildings
Smoragiewucz W et al. · International Archives of Occupational and Environmental Health · 1993
- Detection of AirborneStachybotrys chartarumMacrocyclic Trichothecene Mycotoxins in the Indoor Environment
Brasel T et al. · Applied and Environmental Microbiology · 2005
- Aflatoxins in food: Prevalence, health effects, and emerging trends in its mitigation—An updated review
Biji Balan et al. · Food Safety and Health · 2024
- Aspergillus parasiticus SU-1 genome sequence, predicted chromosome structure, and comparative gene expression under aflatoxin-inducing conditions: evidence that differential expression contributes to species phenotype
Linz J et al. · Eukaryotic Cell · 2014
- Quantification of Trichothecene-Producing Fusarium Species in Harvested Grain by Competitive PCR To Determine Efficacies of Fungicides against Fusarium Head Blight of Winter Wheat
Edwards SG et al. · Applied and Environmental Microbiology · 2001
- Real-time PCR detection of toxigenic Fusarium in airborne and settled grain dust and associations with trichothecene mycotoxins
Halstensen AS et al. · Journal of Environmental Monitoring · 2006
- Stachybotrys chartarum (chartarum = atra = alternans) and other problems caused by allergenic fungi
Chapman J · Allergy and asthma proceedings · 2003
- A Chemically Defined Medium That Supports Mycotoxin Production by Stachybotrys chartarum Enabled Analysis of the Impact of Nitrogen and Carbon Sources on the Biosynthesis of Macrocyclic Trichothecenes and Stachybotrylactam
Katharina Tribelhorn et al. · Applied and Environmental Microbiology · 2023
- In vitro effects of trichothecenes on human dendritic cells
Hymery N. Sibiril Y et al. · Toxicology in Vitro · 2006
- The role of fungal proteinases in pathophysiology of Stachybotrys chartarum
Yike I et al. · Mycopathologia · 2007
- In vitro genotoxicity of mycotoxins ochratoxin A and fumonisin B1 could be prevented by sodium copper chlorophyllin – Implication to their genotoxic mechanism
Domijan AM et al. · Food Chemistry · 2015
- Stachybotrys chartarum, Trichothecene Mycotoxins, and Damp Building–Related Illness: New Insights into a Public Health Enigma
Pestka J et al. · Toxicological Sciences · 2008
- From the gut to the brain: journey and pathophysiological effects of the food-associated trichothecene mycotoxin deoxynivalenol
Maresca M · Toxins · 2012
- Dietary strategies to counteract the effects of mycotoxins: a review
Galvano F et al. · Journal of Food Protection · 2001
- Neurotoxicity and inflammation in the nasal airways of mice exposed to the macrocyclic trichothecene mycotoxins roridin A: kinetics and potentiation by bacterial lipopolysaccharide co-exposure. ToxSci Advance Access May 2004
Islam Z et al. · Toxicological Sciences · 2004
- Intranasal instillation of aflatoxin B(1) in rats: bioactivation in the nasal mucosa and neuronal transport to the olfactory bulb
Peter Larsson · Toxicological Sciences · 2000
- Notes from the field: Use of unvalidated urine mycotoxin tests for the clinical diagnosis of illness--United States, 2014.
Melody Kawamoto et al. · MMWR. Morbidity and mortality weekly report · 2015
- Aflatoxins in feeds: Issues and concerns with safe food production
S. Thakur et al. · Indian Journal of Animal Health · 2022
- Study of mycotoxin prevalence in the wheat supply chain in Tunisia and their reduction by bio-products in vivo
Amina Aloui · HAL (Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe) · 2023
- Relationship of Trichothecene Structure to Cox-2 Induction in the Macrophage: Selective Action of Type B (8-Keto) Trichothecenes
Moon Y et al. · Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health · 2003
- Mycotoxin problem in Africa: current status, implications to food safety and health and possible management strategies
Wagacha JM et al. · International Journal of Food Microbiology · 2008