Low Doses of the Carcinogen Furan Alter Cell Cycle and Apoptosis Gene Expression in Rat Liver Independent of DNA Methylation

BACKGROUND: Evidence of potent rodent carcinogenicity via an unclear mechanism suggests that furan in various foods [leading to an intake of up to 3.5 mu g/kg body weight (bw)/day] may present a potential risk to human health

Levels of Heavy Metals and Ochratoxin A in Medicinal Plants Commercialized in Turkey

Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine the levels of Pb, Cd, and OTA in frequently used medicinal plants

OCCURENCE OF OCHRATOXIN A IN BOTANICAL PRODUCTS COMMERCIALIZED IN TURKEY

Ochratoxin A (OTA) is a nephrotoxic myco-toxin and one of the common contaminants of various foodstuffs. OTA contamination of ginger, turmeric, liquorice and nutmeg was determined using HPLC-fluorescence technique after immunoaffinity column clean-up. Limit of quantification (LOQ) and limit of detection (LOD) for OTA were 0.05 and 0.015 mu g/kg, respectively. Nine out of 13 (69.2%) ginger samples, four out of 7 (57.1%) liquorice samples twelve out of 12 (100%) turmeric samples and seven out of 7 (100%) nutmeg samples contained OTA in the ranging from 0.05 to 2.1, 0.7 to 121.3, 0.2 to 16.3 mu g/kg and 0.1 to 43.7 mu g/kg, respectively. Overall, one liquorice (121.3 mu g/kg), one turmeric (16.3 mu g/kg) and two nutmeg (32-43.7 mu g/kg) samples were contaminated with OTA exceeded the permisble limits established by EU. Overall, this is the first report on the OTA contamination of botanical products and we observed preliminary results which would contribute to the further studies in Turkey

Levels of Heavy Metals and Ochratoxin A in Medicinal Plants Commercialized in Turkey

Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine the levels of Pb, Cd, and OTA in frequently used medicinal plants

Ochratoxin A in dried grapes and grape-derived products in Turkey

Ochratoxin A (OTA) is a naturally occurring mycotoxin and widespread food contaminant which results in a probable human exposure. A total of 85 samples (50 dried grapes, 10 grape juices and 25 pekmez (boiled and concentrated grape juices) were collected from different supermarkets and traditional bazaars in Istanbul during 2008-2009. An analytical method based on immuno-affinity column for clean-up and high-performance liquid chromatography equipped with fluorescence detection was used to determine the OTA. Contamination frequencies were 8%, 20% and 88% with mean concentrations of positive samples of 1.15, 1.40 and 2.04 mu g/kg for dried grapes, grape juices and pekmez samples, respectively. These levels were lower than the maximum levels as set by the European Commission (EC). However, 12 of 25 pekmez samples had higher levels than permitted by the European Union (EU) for safe consumption

Global histone modifications in Fumonisin B1 exposure in rat kidney epithelial cells

Fumonisin B1 (FB1) is a Fusarium mycotoxin frequently occurring in maize-based food and feed. Although the effects of FBI on sphingolipid metabolism are clear, little is known about early molecular changes associated with FB1 carcinogenicity. It has been shown that FB1 disrupts DNA methylation and chromatin modifications in HepG2 cells. We investigated dose- and time-dependent effects of FBI in global histone modifications such as histone H3 lysine 9 di-, trimethylation (H3K9me2/me3), histone H3 lysine 4 trimethylation (H3K4me3), histone H4 lysine 20 trimethylation (H4K20me3), histone H3 lysine 9 acetylation (H3K9ac) and the enzymes involved in these mechanisms in rat kidney epithelial cells (NRK-52E). The increased levels of global H3K9me2/me3 were observed in FBI treated cells, while the global levels of H4K20me3 and H3K9ac were decreased. FBI caused some changes on the activities of H3K9 histone methyltransferase (HMT) and histone acetyltransferase (HAT) at high concentrations in NRK-52E cells. Further, the effects of trichostatin A (TSA), a histone deacetylase inhibitor, were investigated in NRK-52E cells. TSA was found to cause an increase on H3K9ac levels as expected. In this study we suggest that FBI may disrupt epigenetic events by altering global histone modifications, introducing a novel aspect on the potential mechanism of FBI carcinogenesis. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Occurrence of ochratoxin A in cereal-derived food products commonly consumed in Turkey

Ochratoxin A (OTA) is a mycotoxin that can be found in several food commodities including cereals, wine, coffee, cacao, spices or dried fruits, resulting in chronic human exposure. The aim of our study was to investigate the presence of OTA in widely consumed cereal-derived products commercialized in Turkey. A total of 142 samples were collected from different supermarkets and traditional bazaars in Istanbul during 2008-2010 years. The analytical methods used in our study involved the liquid/liquid extraction of OTA, immunoaffinity clean-up and high performance liquid chromatography determination with fluorescence detection. The frequencies of OTA contamination were 21.62%, 19.05% and 55.95% and the mean concentrations of positive samples were 0.32 mu g/kg, 0.14 mu g/kg, 0.41 mu g/kg for breakfast cereals, cereal-based baby foods and tarhana samples, respectively. Our findings show that contamination levels of OTA in all cereal-derived products were lower than the permitted level by European Commission Regulation. (c) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved