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<p>The present contract aims to generate data to fill the information gaps in the fields of toxicokinetics and genotoxicity and allowing for the refinement of the risk assessment on Alternaria toxins. The scientific opinion indicated that, among the potentially genotoxic Alternaria toxins, AOH occurs with a relatively high frequency in foodstuffs. In particular, AOH has shown positive results when tested in mutagenicity and clastogenicity assays 'in vitro' both in bacteria and mammalian cell systems. No 'in vivo' genotoxicity data were retrieved to confirm the genotoxic potential of those Alternaria toxins.</p>
<p>Moreover, preliminary 'in vitro' data shows a high intestinal absorption potential for AOH (Burkhardt et al., 2009). In conclusion, AOH is selected as the representative Alternaria toxin to be tested.</p>
<p>The objective of the project is to conduct a combined study for the determination of the toxicokinetic profile and the assessment of genotoxicity of AOH in rodents.</p>