Concern about lung damage caused by guanidine cationic disinfectants / 中华预防医学杂志

This article summarized the use of guanidine disinfectants in China and the use of guanidine cationic disinfectants, polyhexamethylene guanidine (PHMG), in South Korea, which had caused severe lung damage events such as pulmonary fibrosis. The authors reviewed the studies that Chinese scientists employed ultrasonic atomization technology to simulate the actual scenario of human exposure to PHMG and proved the findings that PHMG could cause pulmonary fibrosis. These results could highlight the necessity of full attention to lung damage caused by guanidine disinfectants and its mechanism, so as to provide the important scientific basis for the protection of public health safety and the formulation of corresponding policies.

Research progress on exposure levels and toxic pathways of typical persistent organic pollutants in foods / 中华预防医学杂志

Dioxins, polybrominated diphenyl ethers, and benzo(a)pyrene are common organic pollutants in food. They have been of concern to academics and government administrations due to high residue and persistence, easy accumulation and strong harmful effects. The National Research Council of the United States of America published Toxicity Testing in the 21st Century: A Vision and Strategy in 2007, which proposed a new concept of toxicity testing that toxicity testing should take full consideration of population exposure data and base on in vitro tests, human cell lines, toxicity pathways and high-throughput screening. Meanwhile, systems biology, bioinformatics and rapid assay technologies will be used to better understand toxicity pathways—the cellular response pathways that can lead to adverse health effects when sufficient perturbing induced by chemicals exposure. The new toxicity testing strategy has changed the traditional testing pattern and has brought a wide impact on the international relevant fields. The European Union, the World Health Organization, and the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the Food and Drug Administration, and the National Center for Toxicological Research have organized relevant discussions and exploratory studies to address the new toxicity testing concept and how to evaluate and utilize the results of traditional toxicity test researches. Compared to the discussion, 'whether to do it’, ten years ago, the question, 'how to do it’, has become the concern of the current discussion. Therefore, how to respond to the concept of toxicity testing and how to effectively utilize and excavate traditional toxicity test data have been the focus of multi-disciplines and interdisciplinary academia such as toxicology, food hygiene and environmental science. Therefore, this article provides an overview of the exposure levels of dioxin, polybrominated diphenyl ethers and benzo[a]pyrene, which are typical persistent organic pollutants in food in China and the current research status of toxic pathways based on whole animal experiments. The exposure level, toxic effect and toxicity mechanism of three contaminants are analyzed and summarized in order to provide basis for future results based on the 21st century toxicity test compared with traditional tests and data mining analysis of these two kinds of data. Meanwhile, it also lays the foundation for the establishment of a toxicity testing framework based on exposure characteristics, toxic pathways, and biomarkers.

Management and safety assessment of nanomaterials in food: status and prospects / 中华预防医学杂志

The safety assessment of nanomaterials in food is essential for safeguarding supervision and maintaining public health. However, there are still no safety assessment procedures for nanomaterials established in national-level in China and no specific toxicology and safety assessment procedures about nanomaterials for food, too. These factors lead to restriction on food safety protection and supervision. Current methods of evaluating the safety of nanomaterials mainly rely on traditional toxicological assessment that are extrapolated based on animal experiment from high doses to low doses and from animals to humans. These uncertainties restrict the accuracy of safety assessment for nanomaterials and also limit the development of scientific and effective evaluation procedures and regulatory measures. Currently, the key issues need to be solved including exposure assessment and evaluation methods of nanomaterials in food and the established methods of the toxicity test for nanomaterials that are consistent with the objectives of toxicity test in the 21st century vision and strategy. In this article, we reviewed current administrative regulatory, situations, and existing issues of food nanomaterials either in China or some developed countries in order to provide a scientific basis in establishing safety assessment procedures for nanomaterials in food in the future.

Quantitative structure-activity relationship prediction of carcinogenicity of N-nitroso compounds based on category approach and read-across / 中华预防医学杂志

Objective@#New quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) method was used to predict N-nitroso compounds (NOCs) carcinogenicity. This could provide evidences for health risk assessment of the chemicals.@*Methods@#Total 74 chemical substances of NOCs were included as target chemicals for this validation study by using QSAR Toolbox based on category approach and read-across. The included 74 NOCs were categorized and subcategorized respectively using "Organic functional groups, Norbert Haider " profiler and "DNA binding by OASIS V.1.1" profiler. Carcinogenicity of rat were used as target of prediction, the carcinogenicity@*results@#of analogues in chemical categories were cross-read to obtain the carcinogenic predictive results of the target chemicals. Results 74 NOCs included 26 nonclic N-nitrosamines, 24 cyclic N-nitrosamines and 24 N-nitrosamides The sensitivity, specificity and concordance of the category approach and read-across for predicting carcinogenicity of 74 NOCs were 75% (48/64), 70%(7/10) and 74% (55/74) respectively. The concordance for noncyclic N-nitrosamines, cyclic N-nitrosamines and N-nitrosamides were 88% (23/26), 71% (17/24) and 63% (15/24) respectively.@*Conclusion@#QSAR based on category approach and read-across is good for prediction of NOCs carcinogenicity, and can be used for high-throughput qualitative prediction of NOCs carcinogenicity.

Effects of Hydrolysis and Polymerization of Aluminum Salt in Water Solution on Developmental Toxicity in Rats in Vitro / 环境与健康杂志

Objective　To explore the effects of chemical reaction of aluminum salt in water solution on developmental toxicity.Methods　Inhibiting actions on embryo growth and development,and organ morphogenetic differentiation in rats induced by newly prepared and 11.5-month stored aluminum sulfate solution were observed and compared using whole embryo culture method in rats.Results　Both of the two observed solutions showed a certain embryo toxicity and teratogenicity.The toxicity of stored solution decreased significantly compared with that of newly prepared solution.At the same concentration of aluminum,the total Brown's morphogenetic score reflecting the every index of embryo growth and development and organ morphogenetic differentiation,the incidence rates of terata and the number of dead embryos were significant lower in rats exposed to stored solution compared with those exposed to newly prepared solution,especially the morbidity of embryos.Conclusion　The complexation reaction between aluminum ions (Al3+) and water molecules in stored aluminum sulfate solution resulted in the changes of existing state of Al3+ and its decreasing developmental toxicity to rats.

Effects of Hydrolysis and Polymerization of Aluminum Salt in Water Solution on Developmental Toxicity in Rats in Vitro / 环境与健康杂志

Objective To explore the effects of chemical reaction of aluminum salt in water solution on developmental toxicity Methods Inhibiting actions on embryo growth and development,and organ morphogenetic differentiation in rats induced by newly prepared and 11 5 month stored aluminum sulfate solution were observed and compared using whole embryo culture method in rats Results Both of the two observed solutions showed a certain embryo toxicity and teratogenicity The toxicity of stored solution decreased significantly compared with that of newly prepared solution At the same concentration of aluminum,the total Brown's morphogenetic score reflecting the every index of embryo growth and development and organ morphogenetic differentiation,the incidence rates of terata and the number of dead embryos were significant lower in rats exposed to stored solution compared with those exposed to newly prepared solution,especially the morbidity of embryos Conclusion The complexation reaction between aluminum ions (Al 3+ ) and water molecules in stored aluminum sulfate solution resulted in the changes of existing state of Al 3+ and its decreasing developmental toxicity to rats

Effect of Anatoxin-a on Expression of IEGs Genes in Mouse Brain / 环境与健康杂志

Objective To explore the role of IEGs in the central neurotoxicity of mice induced by anatoxin-a ANTX-A. Methods 80 Kunming mice were divided into groups and treated with ANTX-A at 200, 50 and 12.5 ?g/kg respectively i.p. for one month, 0.9% sodium chloride solution was used as the control. The expression of c-fos and NGFI-A genes and CREB protein in mouse brain were determined by using RT-PCR and immunocytochemical methods. Results The expression of c-fos gene significantly increased in the females of 50, 200 ?g/kg groups and in the males of 200 ?g/kg group compared with the control group. The expression of C-FOS and CREB-1 protein was significantly higher in 200 ?g/kg group than that in the control group. In all ANTX-A treated groups, the expression of NGFI-A gene did not show a significant difference compared with the control. Conclusion c-fos and CREB-1 genes may play a role in the central neurotoxicity induced by anatoxin-a.

Effect of Anatoxin-a on the Activity of ATPase in PC12 Cells / 环境与健康杂志

Objective To study the effects of anatoxin-a (ANTX-A) on the activity of ATPase in PC12 cells.Methods PC12 cells were activated by different concentrations of ANTX-A stimulation for an hour or 10-7 mol/L ANTX-A for different time.PC12 cells were desensitized using twice incubation method.The activities of Na+-K+-ATPase and Ca2+-ATPase were determined by colorimetry method.Results 10-9,10-8,10-7 mol/L ANTX-A activated PC12 cells for an hour and 10-7 mol/L ANTX-A activated PC12 cells for 30,60,120 min,the activity of Na+-K+-ATPase in PC12 cells,in all of the cases,showed an reduction tendency,the activity of Ca2+-ATPase decreased significantly in different activation situation compared to the control group(P