Protective effects of captopril against aflatoxin B1-induced hepatotoxicity in isolated perfused rat liver

The liver is the major target organ for aflatoxin B1 [AFB1]. Ingestion of aflatoxin causes hepatotoxicty. In this study, captopril as new agent to help the hepatotoxicity induced by aflatoxin was suggested. The isolated perfused rat liver [IPRL] was chosen for evaluating hepatic function. Sixteen rats were divided randomly into four experimental groups: control, captopril, AFB1 and AFB1 + captopril. The level of glutathione content and lipid peroxidation, as marker of oxidative stress and lactate dehydrogenase [LDH], alanine transaminase [ALT] and aspartate transaminase [AST] activities and pH of the perfusate medium were measured. There was a significant decrease in lipid peroxidation and same increase was observed in glutathione level. Treatment with captopril also modulated the enzymes activity and pH of perfusate. This study showed that captopril protects the hepatotoxicty induced by AFB1. Therefore, this drug may provide an effective new strategy to reduce of aflatoxins toxicity

Detection of morphine in opioid abusers hair by GC/MS

Thirty hair samples were collected from the male opioid abusers in which the presence of morphine in their urine samples was confirmed by Thin Layer Chromatography [TLC] analyses. The hair samples were washed, cut into small pieces and extracted in a mixture of methanol-triflouroacetic acid [9:1]. The methanolic phase was evaporated to dryness under nitrogen stream and derivitized by addition of N-methyl-N-trimethylsilyl triflouroacetamide [MSTFA] and 1% trimethyl iodosilane [TMIS] with sonication. One micro liter of each derivitized sample was injected into a Gas Chromatograph-Mass Spectrometer [GC/MS] system consisting of a capillary column and finnigan MS with selective ion monitoring [SIM] mode. The selected mass for ions codeine and morphine were 370 and 429, respectively. The limit of detection [LOD] was set at 0.03ng/mg of the hair. By using the above procedure, morphine was detectable in all of the examined samples and this method is capable to detec low levels of morphine in hair for a long period of time following the last intake of the drug