Discovery of urinary biomarkers to discriminate between exogenous and semi-endogenous thiouracil in cattle: A parallel-like randomized design.

In the European Union, the use of thyreostats for animal fattening purposes has been banned and monitoring plans have been established to detect potential abuse. However, this is not always straightforward as thyreostats such as thiouracil may also have a semi-endogenous origin. Therefore, this study aimed at defining urinary metabolites, which may aid in defining the origin of detected thiouracil.

Pharmacokinetic and urinary profiling reveals the prednisolone/cortisol ratio as a valid biomarker for prednisolone administration.

Background: In Europe, synthetic corticosteroids are not allowed in animal breeding for growth-promoting purposes. Nevertheless, a high prevalence of non-compliant urine samples was recently reported for prednisolone, however, without any indication of unauthorized use. Within this context, 20β-dihydroprednisolone and the prednisolone/cortisol ratio have been suggested as potential tools to discriminate between exogenous and endogenous urinary prednisolone.

Effect of oxidation and catalytic reduction of trace organic contaminants on their activated carbon adsorption.

The combination of ozonation and activated carbon (AC) adsorption is an established technology for removal of trace organic contaminants (TrOCs). In contrast to oxidation, reduction of TrOCs has recently gained attention as well, however less attention has gone to the combination of reduction with AC adsorption. In addition, no literature has compared the removal behavior of reduction vs.

Validated High Resolution Mass Spectrometry-Based Approach for Metabolomic Fingerprinting of the Human Gut Phenotype.

Fecal samples are an obvious choice for metabolomic approaches, since they can be obtained noninvasively and allow one to study the interactions between the gut microbiota and the host. The use of ultrahigh performance liquid chromatography hyphenated to Orbitrap high-resolution mass spectrometry (UHPLC-Orbitrap HRMS) in this field is unique. Hence, this study relied on Orbitrap HRMS to develop and validate a metabolic fingerprinting workflow for human feces and in vitro digestive fluids.

High resolution mass spectrometry based profiling of diet-related deoxyribonucleic acid adducts.

Exposure of DNA to endo- and exogenous DNA binding chemicals can result in the formation of DNA adducts and is believed to be the first step in chemically induced carcinogenesis. DNA adductomics is a relatively new field of research which studies the formation of known and unknown DNA adducts in DNA due to exposure to genotoxic chemicals. In this study, a new UHPLC-HRMS(/MS)-based DNA adduct detection method was developed and validated.

The impact of stress on the prevalence of prednisolone in bovine urine: A metabolic fingerprinting approach.

Recent studies support the hypothesis that the glucocorticoid prednisolone can be formed from cortisol under influence of stress. To evaluate this hypothesis, urine samples of supposedly non-stressed bovines (at the farm) and bovines subjected to two different forms of stress, i.e.

Increased oxidative and nitrosative reactions during digestion could contribute to the association between well-done red meat consumption and colorectal cancer.

Uncured and nitrite-cured pork were subjected, raw, cooked (65 °C, 15 min) or overcooked (90 °C, 30 min), to an in vitro digestion model, which includes mouth, stomach, duodenum, and colon phases. Heating of uncured meat resulted in a pronounced increase in lipid and protein oxidation products throughout digestion. Nitrite-curing had an antioxidant effect during digestion, but this effect disappeared when the meat was overcooked, resulting in up to ninefold higher 4-hydroxy-2-nonenal concentrations compared with digested nitrite-cured raw and cooked pork.

Steroids in the equine oviduct: synthesis, local concentrations and receptor expression.

Steroids play an important role in mammalian reproduction and early pregnancy. Although systemic changes in steroid concentrations have been well documented, it is not clear how these correlate with local steroid concentrations in the genital tract. We hypothesised that, in the horse, the preimplantation embryo may be subjected to high local steroid concentrations for several days.

Global cytosine methylation in Daphnia magna depends on genotype, environment, and their interaction.

The authors characterized global cytosine methylation levels in 2 different genotypes of the ecotoxicological model organism Daphnia magna after exposure to a wide array of biotic and abiotic environmental stressors. The present study aimed to improve the authors' understanding of the role of cytosine methylation in the organism's response to environmental conditions. The authors observed a significant genotype effect, an environment effect, and a genotype × environment effect.

Toward a new European threshold to discriminate illegally administered from naturally occurring thiouracil in livestock.

Thiouracil is a thyrostat inhibiting the thyroid function, resulting in fraudulent weight gain if applied in the fattening of livestock. The latter abuse is strictly forbidden and monitored in the European Union. Recently, endogenous sources of thiouracil were identified after frequently monitoring low-level thiouracil positive urine samples and a "recommend concentration" (RC) of 10 μg/L was suggested by the EURL to facilitate decision-making.

A validated UHPLC-MS/MS method to quantify low levels of anabolic-androgenic steroids naturally present in urine of untreated horses.

Doping control is a main priority for regulatory bodies of both the horse racing industry and the equestrian sports. Urine and blood samples are screened for the presence of hundreds of forbidden substances including anabolic-androgenic steroids (AASs). Based on the suspected endogenous origin of some AASs, with β-boldenone as the most illicit candidate, this study aimed to improve the knowledge of the naturally present AAS in horse urine.

Validation of a quantitative method using liquid chromatography coupled to multiple mass spectrometry for thiouracil in feedstuffs used in animal husbandry.

The use of thyreostatic drugs, like thiouracil (TU), in animal production has been banned for over three decades by the European Union, due to potential teratogenic and carcinogenic effects of its residues upon human consumption. Besides, thyreostats induce water retention in livestock, causing fallacious weight gain and deterioration of meat quality. Development of more competent analytical methods gave rise to sporadic TU detection in urine of untreated animals, questioning the actual synthetic origin TU.

Properties governing the transport of trace organic contaminants through ion-exchange membranes.

Ion exchange membranes could provide a solution to the selective separation of organic and inorganic components in industrial wastewater. The phenomena governing the transport of organics through the IEM however, are not yet fully understood. Therefore, the transport of trace organic contaminants (TOrCs) as a model for a wide variety of organic compounds was studied under different conditions.

Thiouracil-Forming Bacteria Identified and Characterized upon Porcine In Vitro Digestion of Brassicaceae Feed.

In recent years, the frequent detection of the banned thyreostat thiouracil (TU) in livestock urine has been related to endogenous TU formation following digestion of glucosinolate-rich Brassicaceae crops. Recently, it was demonstrated that, upon in vitro digestion of Brassicaceae, fecal bacteria induce TU detection in livestock (porcine livestock > bovines). Therefore, the present study was intended to isolate and identify bacteria involved in this intestinal TU formation upon Brassicaceae digestion and to gain more insight into the underlying mechanism in porcine livestock.

O⁶-carboxymethylguanine DNA adduct formation and lipid peroxidation upon in vitro gastrointestinal digestion of haem-rich meat.

Scope: Epidemiological and clinical studies have demonstrated that the consumption of red haem-rich meat may contribute to the risk of colorectal cancer. Two hypotheses have been put forward to explain this causal relationship, i.e.

Fat content and nitrite-curing influence the formation of oxidation products and NOC-specific DNA adducts during in vitro digestion of meat.

The effects of fat content and nitrite-curing of pork were investigated on the formation of cytotoxic and genotoxic lipid oxidation products (malondialdehyde, 4-hydroxy-2-nonenal, volatile simple aldehydes), protein oxidation products (protein carbonyl compounds) and NOC-specific DNA adducts (O6-carboxy-methylguanine) during in vitro digestion. The formation of these products during digestion is suggested to be responsible for the association between red meat and processed meat consumption and colorectal cancer risk. Digestion of uncured pork to which fat was added (total fat content 5 or 20%), resulted in significantly higher lipid and protein oxidation in the mimicked duodenal and colonic fluids, compared to digestion of pork without added fat (1% fat).

Validation of a confirmatory method for lipophilic marine toxins in shellfish using UHPLC-HR-Orbitrap MS.

Lipophilic marine toxins are produced by harmful microalgae and can accumulate in edible filter feeders such as shellfish, leading to an introduction of toxins into the human food chain, causing different poisoning effects. During the last years, analytical methods, based on liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS), have been consolidated by interlaboratory validations. However, the main drawback of LC-MS/MS methods remains the limited number of compounds that can be analyzed in a single run.

Validated ultra high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method for quantitative analysis of total and free thyroid hormones in bovine serum.

Thyroid hormones are essential hormones for regulating growth and development. Methods to accurately monitor low-levels (ppb-ppt) of these hormones in serum are needed to assess overall health, both from a clinical perspective as from environmental contaminant or drug exposures. In general, the separation of the free thyroid hormone fraction from animal sera is performed through labour intensive equilibrium dialysis, while detection of total and free thyroid hormone fractions in animals is done with commercially available radioimmunoassays (RIAs).

Environmental heat stress induces epigenetic transgenerational inheritance of robustness in parthenogenetic Artemia model.

The notion that phenotypic traits emerging from environmental experiences are heritable remains under debate. However, the recent report of nonmendelian transgenerational epigenetic inheritance, i.e.

Development and validation of a high-resolution mass-spectrometry-based method to study the long-term stability of natural and synthetic glucocorticoids in faeces.

Faecal glucocorticoid analysis is a powerful non-invasive tool for the study of the animal endocrine status and stress physiology, which is mainly carried out by immunoassays, characterised by some limitations. In this study, an ultra high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to high resolution Orbitrap mass spectrometry (U-HPLC-HRMS) method was developed to confirm the presence of glucocorticoids in bovine faeces during a long-term stability study. Because of the complex nature of faeces, an appropriate extraction and purification procedure was developed.

High-resolution Orbitrap mass spectrometry for the analysis of carotenoids in tomato fruit: validation and comparative evaluation towards UV-VIS and tandem mass spectrometry.

In this study, a generic extraction protocol and full-scan high-resolution Orbitrap-mass spectrometry (MS) detection method were developed, enabling the metabolomic screening for carotenoids in tomato fruit tissue. To this end, the carotenoids lutein, zeaxanthin, α-carotene, β-carotene, and lycopene (representing both xanthofylls and carotenes) were considered. The extraction procedure was optimized by means of a D-optimal design and consisted of a liquid-liquid extraction with methanol/tert-butyl methyl ether (1:1, v/v).

Nitrite curing of chicken, pork, and beef inhibits oxidation but does not affect N-nitroso compound (NOC)-specific DNA adduct formation during in vitro digestion.

Uncured and nitrite-cured chicken, pork, and beef were used as low, medium, and high sources of heme-Fe, respectively, and exposed to an in vitro digestion model simulating the mouth, stomach, duodenum, and colon. With increasing content of iron compounds, up to 25-fold higher concentrations of the toxic lipid oxidation products malondialdehyde, 4-hydroxy-2-nonenal, and other volatile aldehydes were formed during digestion, together with increased protein carbonyl compounds as measurement of protein oxidation. Nitrite curing of all meats lowered lipid and protein oxidation to the level of oxidation in uncured chicken.

Identification of novel metabolites from Aspergillus flavus by high resolution and multiple stage mass spectrometry.

The filamentous fungus Aspergillus flavus is one of the most important species in the Aspergillus genus and is distributed worldwide as a prevalent aflatoxin-producing food and feed contaminant. A. flavus contains more than 55 gene clusters that are predicted to encode proteins involved in secondary metabolite production.

Holistic approach based on high resolution and multiple stage mass spectrometry to investigate ergot alkaloids in cereals.

A holistic approach based on high resolution and multiple stage mass spectrometry was developed for identification of less studied or novel ergot alkaloid derivatives. Initially, the fragmentation of nine known ergot alkaloids was studied to establish a strategy for the identification of novel ergot alkaloids. Ions with m/z 223 and m/z 251 were found to be common for all ergopeptines, ergoamides and ergopeptams.