The influence of reproductive and (early) life stages on toxic metal levels was investigated in the brown bear (
Ursus arctos
), the largest mammalian predator species in Croatia. The purpose was to ...examine critical clusters in a population that might be at a higher risk of adverse health effects caused by metals as environmental contaminants. Levels of cadmium, mercury and lead in muscle, liver and kidney cortex of 325 male and 139 female bears, quantified by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, were analysed according to distinct bear life stages (young: cub, yearling, subadult; mature: adult). Metal levels did not differ among sexes in young animals (< 4 years), except for mercury in muscles (higher in females), and adult females had higher cadmium and mercury. A trend of renal cadmium accumulation with age in immature male animals disappeared once they reached maturity, whereas for females this trend has only slowly declined in mature compared to immature bears. In early life stage (< 1 year), bear cubs had lower cadmium, comparable mercury, and higher lead in the kidneys than the bears of the following age category (yearlings). Due to a higher proportion of renal lead transfer from the mother to the cub compared with cadmium, it may be that the high burden of cadmium found in kidneys of older females has lower toxicological concern for their cubs than the lead content. Sex, reproductive, and life stages of bears were confirmed as important in assessing toxic metal burden.
Alumosilicate materials zeolites are widely exploited due to porous structure and ion-exchange properties in several industrial, agriculture and veterinary applications. The mainly used zeolite for ...medical purposes in animals and humans is the natural zeolite clinoptilolite. Clinoptilolite may be prepared for medical applications by different methods that are usually based on mechanical or tribomechanical processing that increase specific surface area. Different processing procedures are known to cause substantial changes in the physical-chemical properties of the material that may affect biological properties as well. In this paper we therefore, (1) systematically analysed physical-chemical characteristics of three clinoptilolite materials obtained by different production methods and one synthetic zeolite to provide novel evidence on structural differences caused by production methods and (2) evaluated clinoptilolite materials detoxification properties in vitro and in AlCl3 - intoxicated rats in vivo. We analysed a new clinoptilolite material as well, that was prepared by tribomechanical double micronization and oxygenation. Our results clearly show that each tested clinoptilolite material differs in physical-chemical properties and that these are linked to the production method. Our results add knowledge on toxicology and safety properties of clinoptilolite materials as no aluminium leakage was observed from clinoptilolite materials into the blood or organs of tested animals. Presented results therefore, prove for the first time the efficiency of clinoptilolite in detoxification of aluminium in vivo, provide scientific data on clinoptilolite safety issues and usage for detoxification purposes.
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•Oxygenated micronized clinoptilolite.•Clinoptilolite detoxifies AlCl3-intoxicated rats.•Clinoptilolite is stable in in vivo.
We investigated the level of five non-essential metal(loid)s (As, Cd, Hg, Tl, Pb) and nine essential metals (Mg, Ca, Mn, Fe, Co, Cu, Zn, Se, Mo) in hair and blood components of captive and ...free-ranging European brown bear populations in Croatia and Poland. Metal(loid) associations with biomarkers of oxidative stress (superoxide dismutase, SOD; glutathione-peroxidase, GSH-Px; malondialdehyde, MDA) and metal exposure (metallothionein, MT) were estimated in this top predatory mammal. Lead was the most abundant non-essential metal(loid) in both blood and hair, with 4 of 35 individuals having blood levels over 100 μg/L. A positive association was found between Pb level and SOD activity in blood. Free-ranging bears had higher blood SOD activity, Mn, Zn and Cd levels, hair Co, Cd, Tl and Pb compared to captive individuals, while the opposite was true for Mg and hair Ca thereby reflecting habitat and diet differences. With increasing age, animals showed lower levels of SOD activity and certain essential metals. Females had higher SOD activity and blood levels of some essential metals than males. Hair showed a higher Fe and Co level when sampled during the growth phase and was not predictive of non-essential metal(loid) blood levels. The established metal(loid) baseline values will enable future risk assessment in both captive and wild European brown bear populations.
•Free-ranging bears had higher essential and non-essential metals than captive ones.•Eleven percent of bears had Pb blood levels above 100 μg/L.•Blood Pb was associated with activity of superoxide-dismutase and essential metals.•All individual and ecological factors partly influenced metal(loid)s in hair and blood.•Hair collected throughout the year did not reflect non-essential metal(loid) levels in blood.
The assessment of circulating miRNAs is challenging and still limited due to their low concentrations, small size and lack of reference values in human biological samples. Pre-amplification of ...complementary DNAs may facilitate reliable miRNA quantification. The aim of our study was to evaluate the efficacy of pre-amplification as a step to increase the sensitivity of qPCR analysis for five candidate circulating miRNAs presumably related to toxic metals and cigarette smoke exposure: miR-1537, miR-190b, miR-16, miR-21, and miR-146a.
Candidate miRNAs expression was analysed in plasma samples of 19 mother-newborn pairs. For isolation, transcription, pre-amplification and qPCR quantification kits and protocols by Qiagen (Hilden, Germany) were used. Paired t-test or Wilcoxon rank test were used to compare miRNAs expression levels with and without a pre-amplification step prior to qPCR, separately in maternal and cord plasma. Intraclass correlation (ICC) was calculated as an agreement measure between procedures for each miRNA.
Pre-amplification facilitated the detection of all assayed miRNAs with an overall cycle threshold (C
) improvement of 6.6 ± 0.89 (P < 0.05). Excellent ICCs (> 0.90) were found between data for preamplified and not preamplified miR-16, miR-21 and miR-146a. However, these correlations for low expressed miR-190b were moderate (0.79 in maternal; 0.61 in cord plasma) and poor for miR-1537 (0.49 in maternal; no correlation in cord plasma).
Pre-amplification is a useful, necessary step in the analysis of miR-1537 and miR-190b as a reliable procedure facilitating extracellular miRNA expression detection in human plasma by real-time PCR quantification.
Određivanje elemenata u kosi metodom ICP-MS Bošnjaković, Anja; Piasek, Martina; Sulimanec Grgec, Antonija ...
Kemija u industriji,
12/2020, Letnik:
69, Številka:
13
Journal Article, Paper
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Human hair is a biological sample that is, unlike blood, noninvasively collected and can be used in the assessment of element intake. Before analysis, hair samples need to be washed to eliminate ...external contamination, for which no standard procedure exists. The present study evaluated the efficiency of different processes for washing hair samples (by non-ionic detergent, acids, solvents, and their mixtures), including ultrasonication before ICP-MS element (As, Ca, Cd, Cu, Fe, Hg, Mg, Mn, Mo, Pb, Se, and Zn) analysis. All tested washing procedures using detergent or solvents were satisfactory, while nitric and hydrochloric acid solutions yielded to “released” and lost elements due to damaged hair (visible discolouration and hair impairment). The application of ultrasonication improved washing efficiency up to 10 %, depending on the tested element and washing procedure.
Ljudska kosa je biološki uzorak koji se, za razliku od krvi, skuplja neinvazivno i može rabiti u procjeni unosa elemenata. Prije analize uzorke kose potrebno je oprati kako bi se odstranila vanjska onečišćenja
za što ne postoje standardni postupci. Istraživanjem je procijenjena učinkovitost različitih postupaka pranja uzoraka kose (neionskim detergentom, kiselinama, otapalima i njihovim mješavinama) uključujući primjenu ultrazvuka prije analize elemenata (As, Ca, Cd, Cu, Fe, Hg, Mg,
Mn, Mo, Pb, Se, and Zn) metodom ICP-MS. Ispitivani postupci pranja bili
su zadovoljavajući, izuzev primjenom dušične i klorovodične kiseline, pri čemu se elementi “otpuštaju” i gube zbog oštećivanja kose (vidljive su promjena boje i pucanje vlasi). Primjena ultrazvuka pospješila je učinkovitost pranja uzoraka do 10 % ovisno o ispitivanom elementu i postupku pranja.
Pregnant and lactating women and infants are vulnerable population groups for adverse effects of toxic metals due to their high nutritional needs and the resultant increased gastrointestinal ...absorption of both, essential and toxic elements. Although breastfeeding is recommended for infants worldwide, as human milk is the best source of nutrients and other required bioactive factors, it is also a pathway of maternal excretion of toxic substances including toxic metals and thus a source of infant exposure. The aim of this research was to assess health risks in breastfeeding women in the coastal area of the Republic of Croatia and their infants (N=107) due to maternal exposure to Cd and Pb via cigarette smoking, and Hg via seafood and dental amalgam fillings, and their interaction with essential elements. Biological markers of exposure were the concentrations of main toxic metals Pb, Cd and Hg in maternal blood and three types of breast milk throughout lactation stages. Biological markers of effects were the levels of essential elements Ca, Fe, Cu, Zn and Se in maternal serum and breast milk. With regard to cigarette smoking as a source of exposure to Cd and Pb, there were effects of smoking on Cd concentration in blood and correlations between the smoking index and Cd concentrations in maternal blood (Ͽ=0.593; P<0.001) and mature milk (Ͽ=0.271; P=0.011) and Pb concentration in transitional milk (Ͽ=0.280; P=0.042). Regarding fish, we found correlations between weekly consumption frequency and total Hg concentrations in maternal blood (Ͽ=0.292; P=0.003) and mature milk (Ͽ=0.303; P=0.003). The number of dental amalgam fillings correlated with total Hg concentrations in colostrum (Ͽ=0.489; P=0.005) and transitional milk (Ͽ=0.309; P=0.018). As for the essential element status, only Se levels in maternal serum decreased by 10% in persons who continued smoking during pregnancy compared to non-smokers. In conclusion, the levels of main toxic metals Cd, Pb and Hg and essential elements Ca, Fe, Cu, Zn and Se in maternal blood and three types of breast milk samples in the studied area of coastal Croatia showed no risk of disrupted essential element levels with regard of toxic metal exposure in both breastfeeding women and their infants.
PURPOSE: Reactive oxygen species play a role in a number of degenerative conditions including osteoporosis. Flavonoids as phyto-oestrogens exert physiological effects against oxidative stress ...diseases. We developed a retinoic acid-induced bone loss model of rats to assess whether flavonoids and alendronate as positive control have role against oxidative stress and mineral contents in osteoporosis in vivo. METHODS: Three-month-old female rats of the Y59 strain were given quercetin, chrysin, naringenin (100 mg kg⁻¹) or alendronate (40 mg kg⁻¹, a positive control) immediately before retinoic acid treatment (80 mg kg⁻¹) once daily for 14 days by a single intragastric (i.g.) application. In the second part of the study, we assessed the effect of those flavonoids on the skeletal system of healthy rats using single i.g. application on the respective flavonoids during 14 days. Twenty-four hours after the treatment, we analysed bone mineral density and the total content of bone calcium and phosphorus in the femur, the geometric and physical characteristics of thigh bones and lipid peroxidation and glutathione levels of liver and kidney cells. RESULTS: All flavonoids improved the decrease in bone weight coefficient, the length and the diameter of the bone, the content of bone ash and calcium and phosphorus content induced by retinoic acid. Chrysin and quercetin showed promise as preventive agents. Flavonoids were superior to alendronate according to some criteria. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that the dietary flavonoids could reduce retinoic acid-induced oxidative stress and bone loss and that flavonoids may be useful therapeutics for prevention of skeletal diseases.
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