Research Publications (Food Safety)

Cadmium (Cd) is a toxic heavy metal with no known biological functions in the human body. Due to a considerably long biological half‐life and very low rate of excretion, accumulation of Cd in different body organs (eg, liver, kidney, and testes) over time is associated with perturbed functioning of these organs. Recent studies have shown the extreme sensitivity of the testes to Cd toxicity.

The branched isomer mixture 4‐nonylphenol (4‐NP) has been used worldwide as a surfactant, and can have endocrine‐disrupting effects on aquatic organisms. For instance, 4‐NP induces the formation of testis‐ova (i.e., testicular and ovarian tissue in the same gonad) or male to female sex reversal of various teleost fishes.

Drug development includes imaging agents, contrast agents and radiopharmaceuticals; these materials differ from therapeutic drugs in that they are largely used to diagnose and/or monitor diseases and not treat them. Consequently, nonclinical safety testing needs are different. An examination of testing packages supporting clinical entry and/or marketing of these materials has shown a common approach to some study types (eg, imaging, biodistribution and toxicity testing).

Parabens (PBs) are compounds widely used in industry for food and personal care products as antimicrobials and preservatives. Their indiscriminate use has resulted in their detection in different ecosystems so that humans and other organisms are highly exposed. Methylparaben (MePB), compared with other PBs, is mostly detected in food, personal care and baby care products.

Gut microorganisms are vital for many aspects of human health, and the commensal bacterium Akkermansia muciniphila has repeatedly been identified as a key component of intestinal microbiota. Reductions in A. muciniphila abundance are associated with increased prevalence of metabolic disorders such as obesity and type 2 diabetes. It was recently discovered that administration of A. muciniphila has beneficial effects and that these are not diminished, but rather enhanced after pasteurization.

Microplastics (MPs) have become a global environmental pollutant because of their unique properties. The extensive MP toxicity reports have focused on the aquatic environment, while the pervasive MP contamination in the soil and air has largely been overlooked. This review summarizes the abundance, sources and transport of MPs in different environments.

The relationship between urinary β2‐microglobulin (β2‐MG) and the risk of all‐cause mortality and cause‐specific mortality in a cadmium (Cd)‐polluted area was investigated in 3139 inhabitants (1404 men and 1735 women) of the Kakehashi River basin in Japan at 35‐year follow‐up. The subjects had been participants in the 1981–1982 health impact survey that assessed Cd‐induced renal dysfunction, as measured by the urinary β2‐MG concentration.

Fumonisins are a family of potentially carcinogenic mycotoxins produced by Fusarium verticillioides. Several fumonisins have been identified with fumonisin B1 (FB1) being the most toxic. The canonical mechanism of FB1 toxicity is centered on its structural resemblance with sphinganine and consequent competitive inhibition of ceramide synthase and disruption of lipidomic profiles.

Accidental intoxications from environmental pollutants, as well as intentional self‐ and chemical warfare‐related poisonings affect millions of people worldwide each year. While many toxic agents can readily enter the central nervous system (CNS), the blood‐brain barrier (BBB) prevents the brain uptake of most pharmaceuticals.

Bisphenol A (BPA), as a common industrial component, is generally consumed in the synthesis of polymeric materials. To gain a deeper understanding of the detrimental effects of BPA, BPA‐induced microRNA (miRNA) alterations were investigated. A systematic search was performed in the PubMed, SCOPUS and Web of Science databases to evoke relevant published data up to August 10, 2019. We identified altered miRNAs that have been repeated in at least three studies.

Polychlorinated dibenzo‐p‐dioxins (PCDDs) are hypothesized to exert their toxic effects in wildlife and humans via endocrine disruption. However, very scanty information is available on the underlying molecular interactions that trigger this disruption. In this study, molecular docking simulation was used to predict the susceptibility of 12 nuclear receptors to disruption via PCDD bindings.

An understanding of polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) congener‐specific effects on cell membrane and intercellular communication is important within the studies of PCB absorption, organ‐related PCB accumulation and exertion of toxic responses.

Di‐n‐butyl phthalate (DBP) is known to have adverse effects on reproduction in mammals and is pervasive in the aquatic environment. The objective of the present study was to investigate whether long‐term exposure to low concentrations of DBP can affect fish reproduction. In this study, zebrafish (Danio rerio) embryos (F0) were exposed to low concentrations (4.9, 13.6 and 43.8 μg/L) of DBP from 2 hours post‐fertilization until sexual maturation.

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are a class of persistent organic environmental pollutants with a total of 209 homologs. The homolog 2,3′,4,4′,5‐pentachlorobiphenyl (PCB118) is one of the most important dioxin‐like PCBs and is highly toxic. PCB118 can accumulate in human tissues, serum and breast milk, which leads to direct exposure of the fetus during development.

We previously demonstrated that particulate matter ≤2.5 μm (PM2.5) suppresses the immune response in the spleen in vivo. Although PM2.5 includes the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) such as dibenzo[a,h]anthracene (DBA), it is unclear whether PAH has a direct effect on the responses of splenocytes. In our study, the concentration of DBA used was approximately 0.8 μm, which is much lower than concentrations used in other toxicological studies of DBA.

Pantoea agglomerans is a Gram‐negative bacterium that is ubiquitous in the environment, colonizing animals, humans, and numerous plants, including cotton and wheat. A lipopolysaccharide‐containing fermented wheat flour extract from P. agglomerans (Somacy‐FP100) is proposed for use as a food ingredient for individuals seeking foods for healthy aging.

Globally, more than a billion people smoke tobacco making it one of the biggest public health problems and a leading risk factor for global deaths. Nicotine, the main alkaloid in tobacco, has been shown to be associated with fertility problems in men and women. The adverse effects of tobacco/nicotine on reproduction have been attributed to deleterious effects on gametes, steroidogenic imbalance, and competitive inhibition of steroid receptors.

Deoxynivalenol (DON) is a common mycotoxin, which often induces oxidative stress and cytotoxicity in humans and animals. Astilbin (AST), as a natural antioxidant, exhibits multiple pharmacological functions. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of AST on alleviating DON‐induced cytotoxicity in intestinal porcine epithelial cells (IPEC‐J2). The results demonstrated that 0.5 μg/mL DON stimulation for 6 hours induced oxidative stress, inflammation and apoptosis in IPEC‐J2 cells.

Broad application of reduced graphene oxide (rGO) and ubiquitous lead (Pb) pollution may increase the possibility of combined exposure of humans. Information on the combined effects of rGO and Pb in human cells is scarce. This work was designed to explore the potential effects of rGO on Pb‐induced toxicity in human alveolar epithelial (A549) cells. Prepared rGO was polycrystalline in nature.

Assessment of reproductive toxicity is one of the important safety considerations in drug development. Thus, in the present research, the naïve Bayes (NB)‐classifier method was applied to develop binary classification models. Six important molecular descriptors for reproductive toxicity were selected by the genetic algorithm. Then, 110 classification models were developed using six molecular descriptors and10 types of fingerprints with 11 different maximum diameters.

We previously reported that immunostaining for γ‐H2AX, a biomarker of DNA damage, in the rat urinary bladder is useful for early detection of bladder carcinogens in 28‐day toxicity studies. Here, we aimed to examine the dose dependency of γ‐H2AX formation in the urinary bladder of rats.

The potential toxicity of cadmium‐containing quantum dots (QDs) has received much attention because of increasing biomedical applications. However, little has been known about how cadmium telluride (CdTe) QDs influence the gut microbiota and lipid metabolism. In this study, mice were exposed orally to CdTe QDs (200 μL of 0.2, 2, 20 or 200 μm; twice per week) for 4 weeks.

Metal exposure has recently been related to the risk of hypertension. However, the association remains unclear and relevant epidemiologic studies are limited. The present study aimed to assess the associations between exposure to metals and the odds of hypertension, as well as blood pressure (BP) levels. A total of 816 participants were enrolled in southwestern China.

Benzo[a]pyrene (B[a]P), a typical carcinogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon, exists worldwide in vehicle exhaust, cigarette smoke and other polluted environments. Recent studies have demonstrated a strong association between B[a]P and lung cancer. However, whether B[a]P at human blood equivalent level can promote epithelial‐mesenchymal transition (EMT), a crucial molecular event during cell malignant transformation, remains unclear.

In recent years, many new opioids, particularly fentanyl analogues, have appeared on the drug market. The extreme potency of even low doses of these compounds leads to numerous fatal poisonings. This also results in the fact that only sophisticated techniques are capable of detecting fentanyl analogues at concentrations that can be expected in blood.