Occurrence of fungi and aflatoxins B in nuts and products marketed the Brazilian northeastern regions / Ocorrência de fungos e aflatoxinas do tipo B em castanhase produtos comercializados no nordeste brasileiro

Aflatoxin contamination has been considered as a public health problem, especially in tropical countries, including Brazil. In order to investigate the presence of type B aflatoxins in products marketed in the city of Fortaleza, 23 samples were analyzed by thin layer chromatography.Visible fungal contamination in food was identified according to their macroscopic and microscopic features. The contamination by aflatoxins was detected in 8.7 % of 23 analyzedsamples, and 12.5 % of Brazilian nuts samples were positive for AFB1 (<8 µg/kg) and for AFB2 in a contamination rate above the allowed value (16 µg/kg). Among the peanut samples,33.3 % were positive to AFB1 and AFB2, also in a contamination rate (317.1 µg/kg) which was higher than that recommended by ANVISA. The isolation and morphological characteristics of fungi detected mainly in Brazilian nuts with peel showed the occurrence of the followingspecies: Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus niger, Mucor sp, Cladosporium sphaerospermum, Cladosporium cladosporoides, Fusarium sp, Aspergillus terreus and bacteria of Actinomycetes phylum. These findings indicate that it is needed to apply the mostly effective quality monitoringof food available to consumers.

A contaminação por aflatoxinas tem sido considerada um problema de saúde públicaprincipalmente em países tropicais, incluindo o Brasil. Com o intuito de investigar a presença de aflatoxinas do tipo B em produtos comercializados na cidade de Fortaleza, 23 amostrasforam analisadas por meio de cromatografia em camada delgada. Os fungos visivelmentepresentes em alimentos foram identificados de acordo com suas características macroscópicase microscópicas. A contaminação por aflatoxina foi detectada em 8,7 % das 23 amostrasanalisadas; e 12,5 % das amostras de castanha-do-Brasil apresentaram positividade paraAFB1 (<8 μg/kg) e para AFB2 com taxa de contaminação acima do valor permitido (16 μg/kg). Quanto às amostras de amendoim, 33,3 % apresentaram positividade para AFB1 e AFB2, também com nível de contaminação (317,1 μg/kg) acima do preconizado pela ANVISA. O isolamento e a caracterização morfológica dos fungos encontrados principalmente nas castanhas-do-Brasilcom casca revelaram a presença das espécies: Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus niger, Mucor sp, Cladosporium sphaerospermum, Cladosporium cladosporoides, Fusarium sp, Aspergillus terreuse bactérias do filo Actinomicetos. Estes resultados demonstram que há necessidade de fiscalização mais efetiva da qualidade dos alimentos oferecidos aos consumidores.

Occurrence of fungi and aflatoxins B in nuts and products marketed the Brazilian northeastern regions / Ocorrência de fungos e aflatoxinas do tipo B em castanhas e produtos comercializados no Nordeste brasileiro

Aflatoxin contamination has been considered as a public health problem, especially in tropical countries, including Brazil. In order to investigate the presence of type B aflatoxins in products marketed in the city of Fortaleza, 23 samples were analyzed by thin layer chromatography. Visible fungal contamination in food was identified according to their macroscopic and microscopic features. The contamination by aflatoxins was detected in 8.7 % of 23 analyzed samples, and 12.5 % of Brazilian nuts samples were positive for AFB1 (<8 µg/kg) and for AFB2 in a contamination rate above the allowed value (16 µg/kg). Among the peanut samples, 33.3 % were positive to AFB1 and AFB2, also in a contamination rate (317.1 µg/kg) which was higher than that recommended by ANVISA. The isolation and morphological characteristics of fungi detected mainly in Brazilian nuts with peel showed the occurrence of the following species: Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus niger, Mucor sp, Cladosporium sphaerospermum, Cladosporium cladosporoides, Fusarium sp, Aspergillus terreus and bacteria of Actinomycetes phylum. These findings indicate that it is needed to apply the mostly effective quality monitoring of food available to consumers.

A contaminação por aflatoxinas tem sido considerada um problema de saúde pública principalmente em países tropicais, incluindo o Brasil. Com o intuito de investigar a presença de aflatoxinas do tipo B em produtos comercializados na cidade de Fortaleza, 23 amostras foram analisadas por meio de cromatografia em camada delgada. Os fungos visivelmente presentes em alimentos foram identificados de acordo com suas características macroscópicas e microscópicas. A contaminação por aflatoxina foi detectada em 8,7 % das 23 amostras analisadas; e 12,5 % das amostras de castanha-do-Brasil apresentaram positividade para AFB1 (<8 µg/kg) e para AFB2 com taxa de contaminação acima do valor permitido (16 µg/kg). Quanto às amostras de amendoim, 33,3 % apresentaram positividade para AFB1 e AFB2, também com nível de contaminação (317,1 µg/kg) acima do preconizado pela ANVISA. O isolamento e a caracterização morfológica dos fungos encontrados principalmente nas castanhas-do-Brasil com casca revelaram a presença das espécies: Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus niger, Mucor sp, Cladosporium sphaerospermum, Cladosporium cladosporoides, Fusarium sp, Aspergillus terreus e bactérias do filo Actinomicetos. Estes resultados demonstram que há necessidade de fiscalização mais efetiva da qualidade dos alimentos oferecidos aos consumidores.

Estudo da resposta imune naturalmente adquirida contra proteínas recombinantes correpondentes a antígenos de estágios assexuados sanguíneos de Plasmodium vivax / Study comparatively the acquired immune response against recombinant proteins corresponding to antigens from asexual blood stages of Plasmodium vivax

No presente estudo, avaliamos a resposta imune naturalmente adquirida ao Plasmodium vivax em indivíduos de áreas endêmicas de malária utilizando proteínas recombinantes baseadas em três antígenos de formas assexuadas sanguíneas do parasita: Antígeno 1 de Membrana Apical (AMA-1), região C-terminal da Proteína 1 de Superfície do Merozoíta ('MSP1 IND. 19') E Antígenos Variantes de P. vivax (VIR). Sete proteínas recombinantes correspondentes a quatro subfamílias VIR (A, B, C e E) foram incluídas neste estudo. Inicialmente, as diferentes proteínas recombinantes foram comparadas, por ELISA, quanto ao reconhecimento por anticorpos IgM, IgG e subclasses de IgG de 200 indivíduos infectados por P. vivax procedentes dos estados do Pará e Rondônia...

In the present study, we evaluated comparatively the acquired immune response to Plasmodium vivax in individuais from endemic areas of malaria using recombinant proteins based on three antigens from asexual blood stages of the parasite: Apical Membrane Antigen 1 (AMA-1), C-terminal region of the Merozoite Surface Protein1 (MSP1 19), and Variant Antigens of P. vivax (VIR). Seven recombinant proteins corresponding to the four VIR subfamilies (A, B, C and E) were included in this study. Initially, the different recombinant proteins were compared by ELISA with regard to the recognition by IgM, IgG, and IgG subclass of antibodies from 200 individuais with patent infection from the States of Pará and Rondônia. The frequencies of individuais that presented IgM ar IgG antibodies anti-VIR during the infection were 29.6% or 26.0%, respectively. We did not observe predominance of any IgG subclass during immune response anti-VIR, except in the case of the C subfamily which was predominantly recognized by IgG1 subclass. In contrast, the frequencies of the individuais that presented IgG antibodies to AMA-1 e MSP119 were significantly higher (57.0% and 90.5%, respectively). The cellular immune response to VIR antigens was evaluated by in vitro proliferative assays in mononuclear cells of the individuais recently exposed to P. vivax. We did not observe significantly proliferative responses to these antigens when we compared malaria exposed and non exposed individuais. Subsequently, we evaluated the pattern of cross recognition between antibodies and T cell against four VIR subfamilies after experimental immunization of BALB/c mice with each one of the proteins emulsified with Complete Freund's adjuvant. The IgG antibody titers of the mice immunized against each one of the recombinant proteins were detected by inhibition ELISA. High specific titers against VIR proteins were obtained after the second immunizing dose. Most importantly, we observed that the immunization schedule constituted by two sequential doses of each one of the VIR recombinant proteins were able to induce cross-reactive antibodies against the different VIR subfamilies. These studies were complemented by lymphocyte proliferative response analysis of the immunized mice after an in vitro stimulation with each one of the VIR proteins. Our results demonstrated that the VIR proteins presented specific and cross-reactive epitopes recognized by T cells. These data strongly suggested of the commons epitopes are present and showed that this schedule of immunization may be used as basis for future studies aimed at inducing protective immunity against vivax malaria in non human primates.