The European Registered Toxicologist (ERT) : Current status and prospects for advancement

Acknowledgements We would like to thank the participants of the five workshops in which the issues presented in this paper were discussed and the revised guidelines prepared, as well as the EUROTOX Executive Committee and the societies of toxicology of Sweden, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria and France for their support which allowed the workshops to take place.Peer reviewedPostprin

Conjugation of Functionalized SPIONs with Transferrin for Targeting and Imaging Brain Glial Tumors in Rat Model

Currently, effective and specific diagnostic imaging of brain glioma is a major challenge. Nanomedicine plays an essential role by delivering the contrast agent in a targeted manner to specific tumor cells, leading to improvement in accurate diagnosis by good visualization and specific demonstration of tumor cells. This study investigated the preparation and characterization of a targeted MR contrast agent, transferrin-conjugated superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (Tf-SPIONs), for brain glioma detection. MR imaging showed the obvious contrast change of brain glioma before and after administration of Tf-SPIONs in C6 glioma rat model in vivo on T2 weighted imaging. Significant contrast enhancement of brain glioma could still be clearly seen even 48 h post injection, due to the retention of Tf-SPIONs in cytoplasm of tumor cells which was proved by Prussian blue staining. Thus, these results suggest that Tf-SPIONs could be a potential targeting MR contrast agent for the brain glioma

Nutritionnal analysis of meat, liver and kidney of marine Turtle, Chelonia mydas, after breeding

Après une brève présentation de la tortue marine Chelonia mydas, et de son élevage à la ferme aquacole de Saint-Leu à La Réunion, les auteurs présentent les qualités nutritionnelles de la viande, du foie et du rein, au terme de 3 années d'élevage. La viande de tortue présente une haute valeur en acides aminés, vitamines et minéraux, et une faible teneur en lipides. Le foie est un aliment type « foie gras », très riche en lipides, acides aminés, fer et vitamines. Les reins non encore commercialisés, ne présentent aucune caractéristique nutritionnelle notable.After a short presentation of the marine turtle, Chelonia mydas, and a low rate of lipids. The liver (or «fat liver») is rich in lipids, amino nutritionnal qualities of the meat, liver and kidney, after 3 years of breeding. Turtle meat shows a high value in amino-acids, vitamins and minerals, and a low rate of lipids. The liver (or «fat liver») is rich in lipids, amino- acids, iron and vitamins. The kidneys, not commercialized, have no par ticular nutritionnal characteristic. Ke

Multi-slice DCE-MRI data using P760 distinguishes between metastatic and non-metastatic rodent prostate tumors.

An intermediate molecular weight contrast agent P760 was used to investigate the ability of multi-slice dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI (DCE-MRI) to distinguish metastatic from non-metastatic rodent prostate tumors. Non-metastatic AT2.1 and metastatic AT3.1 prostate tumors originally derived from the Dunning prostate cancer model were implanted on the hind leg of Copenhagen rats. Multi-sliced DCE-MRI data were acquired on a SIGNA 1.5 T scanner and analyzed using a recently developed empirical mathematical model. The P760 multi-slice DCE-MRI data in combination with the empirical mathematical model successfully distinguished between metastatic and non-metastatic rodent prostate tumors. Specifically, fitting the data with the empirical model showed that metastatic tumors had significantly faster contrast media uptake (p<0.001) and slower washout rates (p<0.01) than non-metastatic tumors