Safety and mutagenicity evaluation of red mold dioscorea fermented from Monascus purpureus NTU 568.

Monascus-fermented products, including red mold rice and red mold dioscorea, have been developed as functional foods with many health benefits. We performed safety and mutagenic evaluations on red mold dioscorea powder (RMDP) fermented from Monascus purpureus NTU 568. The results of Ames test using Salmonella typhimurium strains TA97a, TA98, TA100, TA102, and TA1535 showed that RMDP (⩽5 mg/plate) was not mutagenic. The mammalian chromosomal aberration test showed that the number of Chinese hamster ovary cells with abnormal chromosomes was <3% after RMDP treatment (maximum concentration: 5 mg/mL). Imprinting control region mice were used to estimate the genotoxicity of RMDP. Compared with the control, high-dose RMDP administration (2000 mg/kg) did not show significant differences in the number of reticulocytes or the occurrence of micronucleated reticulocytes. A 28-day oral toxicity assay in Sprague-Dawley rats was performed to investigate the no observed adverse effect level of RMDP. Compared with the control, high-dose RMDP administration (2000 mg/kg) caused no toxicological responses such as mortality, variation in body weight, or toxicopathologic lesions. Thus, RMDP from M. purpureus NTU 568 shows no significant mutagenic or toxic effects.

Effect of endocrine disrupting chemicals on lipopolysaccharide-induced tumor necrosis factor-alpha and nitric oxide production by mouse macrophages.

Little is known about the development of infectious diseases during exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs), although several studies have reported on the effect of EDCs on the immune function of the human body. To assess the effect of EDCs on the development of infectious disease, we investigated the effect of eighteen possible EDCs on mouse macrophage production of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) and nitric oxide (NO) in response to bacterial endotoxin in vitro and ex vivo. Of chemicals we examined, simazine, nitrofen, and benzyl butyl phthalate inhibited lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced TNF-alpha production by mouse macrophage cell line RAW 264 in vitro. Carbaryl, alachlor, nonylphenol, octylphenol, tributyltin, and triphenyltin inhibited LPS-induced NO production in vitro, whereas 2,4-dichlorophenoxy acetic acid and bisphenol A enhanced its production. Zineb and alachlor, on the other hand, enhanced LPS-induced TNF-alpha production by mouse peritoneal macrophages ex vivo, while alachlor inhibited LPS/interferon-gamma-induced NO production ex vivo. These results indicate that some EDCs exert modulatory activity on endotoxin-induced macrophage activation either positively or negatively, suggesting that these compounds may affect the development of infectious diseases. This is the first report that systematically compared the effect of EDCs on LPS action.

Simultaneous Determination and Identification of Penicillin Residues by High-Performance Liquid Chromatographic Analysis.

A new method was developed for simultaneous determination and identification of seven penicillins (amoxicillin, ampicillin, methicillin, penicillin G, oxacillin, cloxacillin, and dicloxacillin) in bovine serum. Each sample was simply extracted with acetonitrile, and identification of the reaction products of penicillins after treatment with 1,2,4-triazole-HgCl2 solution was then carried out by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with on ultraviolet spectrophotometric detector at 325 nm. Separation of the penicillin reaction products by HPLC was carried out by using a mobile phase of 0.1 M phosphate buffer and acetonitrile in ratios of 85:15 and 60:40 (vol/vol) in a gradient flow. The retention times of the seven penicillins ranged from 4.3 to 24.6 min, and the detection limits of penicillin concentration ranged from 0.04 to 0.2 µg/ml. The calibration curves for individual penicillins extracted from bovine serum were linear, and the correlation coefficients for each of the drugs were over 0.99. The determination of penicillins extracted from bovine serum spiked with each drug gave a recovery rate from 82.0 ± 5.6% to 105.6 ± 4.6%. This detection method may be useful for routine laboratory testing of residual penicillins.