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Driven by the need to improve productivity and to secure and sustainable global food supply, pesticides are constantly used by farmers. Among the pesticides, Monocrotophos is the most locally popular pesticide used by Indian farmers. Strenuous usage of this pesticide affects the soil dwelling organisms especially the earthworms which are more deleteriously affected. Hence an ecotoxicity study against the pesticide Monocrotophos was performed to determine the dermal toxicity of earthworm Eisenia fetida. The standard paper contact test proposed by OECD (1984) was implemented and histological studies as evidence was performed to prove the effect of Monocrotophos on the tissues of earthworm. The acute dermal toxicity (LC50) of Monocrotophos on the earthworm, Eisenia fetida was determined as 0.0036 μg/cm2. Hence the Monocrotophos was categorized as “Super toxic” to earthworms. The histological studies showed heavy damages on the earthworm tissues such as epidermis, peritoneal epithelium, Chloragogen cells, longitudinal muscles, etc. The study concluded that Monocrotophos is highly toxic to earthworms and furthermore studies on the acute and chronic toxicity with OECD soil is needed to assess the actual effect in soil.

Whole body irradiation with a single 10-Gy dose caused increase in lipid peroxidation and a transient decrease in cellular glutathione content in rat spleen, demonstrating elevated oxidative stress. The irradiation also caused increases in activities of glutathione peroxidase (GPx), glutathione reductase (GR), and glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD), the enzymes carrying out glutathione redox cycling; but not glutamate cysteine ligase (GCL), the enzyme in glutathione synthesis process. Increases in catalase (CAT) activity and heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) and glutathione S-transferase pi (GSTpi) protein levels were also exhibited after irradiation. Administration of Se-methylselenocysteine (MSC) (0.75 mg/rat/day, for 1 week) resulted in increases in GPx, G6PD, and CAT activities and GSTpi protein level in non-irradiated spleen, without affecting glutathione and lipid peroxidation levels. The MSC pretreatment prior to irradiation abrogated the irradiation-induced increase in lipid peroxidation, and it induced increases in glutathione content, GCL, GPx and CAT activities, and HO-1, GSTpi, and peroxiredoxin 2 protein levels upon irradiation. Our results suggest a role for MSC pretreatment in prevention of irradiation-induced oxidative damage in spleen by reinforcing antioxidant capacity, particularly the glutathione system.

The adsorption of L-cysteine at the thiol-capped QD-water interface was investigated by monitoring its photoluminescence andin-situ ATR-FTIR spectral features. Upon exposure to L-cysteine in aqueous solution, quenching of the QD fluorescence during the first few hours, followed by slow and steady enhancement of the fluorescence during the next several days were observed. Moreover, it was also found that the temporal changes in fluorescence intensities were strongly dependent on the concentration of L-cysteine. Based on these results combined within-situ ATR-FTIR spectroscopic observation, a reaction pathway of L-cysteine adsorption on thempaQD colloidal particles was proposed, which is initially driven by the formation of kinetically favorable intermediate species, involving coordination of L-cysteine thiol group to the QD surface and then followed by the slow formation of thermodynamically favored QD species, probably involving bidentate coordination of both amine and thiol groups of L-cysteine to the surface of QD nanoparticles. Considering the photoluminescence and colloidal property changes ofmpaQDs exposed to widely used cell culture media (i.e., RPMI 1640 and DMEM), this spectroscoscopic results and proposed reaction pathway at the QDwater interface have important implications in understanding the potential biological fate and cytotoxicity mechanisms of engineered nanomaterials, which recently induced increasing concerns.

To investigate the enhancement of alcohol metabolism by two ginseng berry (GB) extracts and their two types of mixed herbal beverages through in vitro and in vivo experiments. Two GB extract solutions and their two herbal beverages were evaluated as enhancers of alcohol metabolism in normal human embryonic liver cells (CL-48 cell line) through assays of alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) and aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) activity. Cytotoxicity was also assessed in the same cell line using an MTT assay. Effects on alcohol metabolism were also observed in vivo through measurement of serum alcohol, acetaldehyde, alanine aminotransferase (ALT), and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) levels in alcohol treated rats. Blood samples were serially collected at 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 8 hrs after a single ethanol (EtOH) treatment. A single treatment with the test samples was administered orally 30 minutes after EtOH treatment. GB extract solutions effectively elevated the ADH and ALDH activity observed in vitro, while no treatment- related cytotoxic effects were found with test samples t concentrations up to 100 mg/mL. Significantly lower (p<0.01 or p<0.05) serum alcohol and acetaldehyde content was observed in samples from treated rats than in those from control rats (EtOH only) 1 or 2 hrs after EtOH treatment. In addition, noticeable decreases were observed in serum AST and ALT levels in treated samples 8 hrs after EtOH administration. HM40, an herbal mixture containing GB extract (40 mg/75 mL of ginsenoside Re), showed betters enhancement of alcohol metabolism through ADH/ALDH activation, as well as related hepatoprotective effects. GB extracts effectively enhanced alcohol metabolism without cytotoxicity while also providing possible hepatoprotective effects that could serve as a functional ingredient in anti-hangover alternative therapies. These extracts are expected to be more effective when made into herbal mixture beverages.

Food colorants (synthetic, inorganic and natural) represent one of the major categories of food additives. Synthetic colorants were banned due to their adverse effects on animals and human. However, synthetic dyes are still in use because they are cheap, and stable. In the present in vivo study conducted on female albino rats (Rattus norvegicus), the effect of sunset yellow (SY) and sodium benzoate (NaB) combinations on the hematological and histological profile was assessed. Different combinations of SY plus NaB were dissolved in water and administered daily to experimental rat groups for 12 weeks. Group 1 (control) received only water, group 2 received 5 mg SY plus 10 mg NaB, group 3 received 5 mg SY plus 100 mg NaB, group 4 received 50 mg SY plus 100 mg NaB, group 5 received 50 mg SY plus 10 mg NaB, group 6 received 200 mg SY plus 750 mg NaB, and group 7 received 20 mg SY plus 75 mg NaB. Histopathological examinations were performed on liver and kidney of rats at the end of the experiment. The results revealed a decrease in RBCs count, hematocrit, WBCs, MCV and Hb levels upon the administration of SY plus NaB. The results also showed no increase in MCH, MCHC and platelet count. Liver and kidney tissues showed some lesions due to the administration of the tested compounds in comparison to the control animals. The chemical stress caused by the SY and NaB combinations caused some degenerative changes in the liver and kidneys of rats. It could be concluded that SY and NaB combinations causes some damage in liver and kidney tissues of experimental animals. Therefore, using SY and NaB combinations should be limited.

Allergic inflammatory diseases, such as asthma and allergic rhinitis, are caused by a complex interaction between genetic and environmental factors. Although several relevant candidate genes that are associated with environmental pollutants and allergic diseases have been identified in previous studies, the mechanisms underlying the induction of cytokines and chemokines by environmental pollutants and their role in human diseases are still unclear. This study examines the correlation between exposure to toluene, which is a common environmental pollutant, and the expression of immune-related genes, using reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) with pathway-targeted arrays (RT2 Profiler™ PCR Arrays). Our PCR array analyses suggested the p38 MAPK and JNK pathways are activated upon toluene treatment in BEAS-2B cells, based on the expression profiles of MAPK8 (JNK1), MAPK9 (JNK2), MAPK10 (JNK3), MAPK11 (P38BETA2), CCL5 (RAN TES), CCL11 (eotaxin), and genes encoding proinflammatory cytokines, including tumor necrosis factor (TNF), TOLLIP, IL1A, and IL1B. This study aims to show that toluene exposure induces the expression of RANTES and eotaxin in cultured human bronchial epithelial cell lines through two distinct MAPKs, p38 and JNK.

The risks of harmful chemicals are actively investigated with diverse toxicological in vitro and in vivo models, although such approaches may have critical problems, such as ethical issues or difficulties extrapolating between animal and human data. Adverse outcome pathways (AOP), in which a conceptually constructed pathway describes the sequential linkage between a molecular initiating event and its final adverse outcome, are actively studied in chemical risk assessment as an alternative prediction tool for understanding the mode of action induced by exposure to a certain chemical. Researchers have recently suggested integrated forms of toxicogenomic approaches and presented general draft AOPs for chemical risk assessment. In this review, we introduce the concept and application status of AOP and suggest possible complementary points for AOP frameworks using the toxicogenomic data analysis of 2,4-dinitrotoluene (2,4-DNT) as an example, considering the high risk of environmental pollution and chemical explosion. To explore the biological events induced by 2,4-DNT, a literature-based pathway analysis was conducted using selected animal genomic data relating to 2,4-DNT retrieved from public databases. Biological network connections among the retrieved genes provided additional knowledge on possible occurrences of inflammation, diabetes mellitus, and carcinogenesis mediated by alteration of cellular processes (oxidative stress, autophagy, and inflammatory responses) and protein functions (NF-kB family, proteasome endopeptidase complex, and Jun/Fos) derived from gene expression changes by 2,4-DNT exposure. This review provides a novel approach using large-scale toxicological literature-based biological pathway analysis to improve confidence in the existing putative AOPs.

It was evaluated the synergistic effects of fermented rice extracts (FRe) on the laxative and probiotic effects of yogurt in normal rats. Commercial liquid yogurt (Bulgaris™) containing 0.05%, 0.10%, and 1.0% FRe (BFRe) was administered orally to normal rats daily for 10 days. Compared with the vehicle control, the three BFRe treatments exhibited highly significant increases in fecal pellet numbers, water content, thickness of surface mucous in the colonic lumen, intestinal charcoal transit ratio, thickness of the colonic mucosa, and mucous-producing goblet cells; decreased numbers and mean diameters of fecal pellets remaining in the colonic lumen were detected compared with the vehicle control, and numbers of viable Lactobacilli in cecum contents and feces were dramatically higher than those in vehicle control rats. More favorable probiotic and laxative effects were detected in rats treated with 0.1% and 1.0% BFRe compared with equal doses of liquid yogurt or FRe alone. Therefore, appropriate concentrations of BFRe may be highly effective for alleviating constipation and provide a complementary natural approach to reducing lifestyleinduced constipation.