BACKGROUND Dietary exposure to high levels of the fungal toxin, aflatoxin, occurs in West Africa, where long-term crop storage facilitates fungal growth. METHODS We conducted a cross-sectional study in Benin and Togo to investigate aflatoxin exposure in children around the time of weaning and correlated these data with food consumption, socioeconomic status, agro-ecological zone of residence,...

Five monoclonal antibodies were obtained after fusion of mouse P3 x 63 myeloma cells with spleen cells isolated from BALB/c mice that had been immunized with aflatoxin B,-adducted DMA complexed with methylated bovine serum albumin. Selected hybridomas were found to produce monoclonal anti bodies specific for modified DMA containing both the 2,3dihydro-2-(/V7-guanyl)-3-hydroxyaflatoxin B, and th...

Oxidative stress plays a major role in diabetes. In vivo levels of membrane-bound radicals (MBRs) in a streptozotocin-induced diabetic mouse model were uniquely detected by combining molecular magnetic resonance imaging (mMRI) and immunotrapping techniques. An anti-DMPO (5,5-dimethyl-1-pyrroline N-oxide) antibody (Ab) covalently bound to an albumin (BSA)-Gd (gadolinium)-DTPA (diethylene triamin...

Drusen are extracellular deposits that accumulate below the retinal pigment epithelium on Bruch's membrane and are risk factors for developing age-related macular degeneration (AMD). The progression of AMD might be slowed or halted if the formation of drusen could be modulated. To work toward a molecular understanding of drusen formation, we have developed a method for isolating microgram quant...

White blood cell DNA adducts were measured in coke oven workers, in residents from the area next to the coke oven in Silesia, Poland (highly industrialized region), and in residents from the rural area of Poland using the 32P-postlabeling technique. This method detected aromatic adducts including adducts formed by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Highest levels of adducts in DNA were se...

Exposure to organophosphorus (OP) compounds can lead to serious neurological damage or death. Following bioactivation by the liver cytochromes P450, the OP metabolites produced are potent inhibitors of serine active-site enzymes including esterases, proteases and lipases. OPs may form adducts on other cellular proteins. Blood cholinesterases (ChEs) have long served as biomarkers of OP exposure ...

Free radical-catalyzed peroxidation of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, C22:6/omega-3) generates various lipid peroxidation products that covalently modify biomolecules such as proteins. Under a free radical-generating system, DHA significantly modified lysine residues in bovine serum albumin. Upon incubation of oxidized DHA with an amino-compound pyridoxamine or a lysine-containing peptide, N-propan...

A 32P-postlabeling procedure for identifying and quantifying hydrophobic DNA adducts was developed (by modifying the method of Randerath and co-workers) in which labeled adducts are separated by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and quantified by liquid scintillation counting. This method was first developed for fluoranthene-DNA adducts, and methods for optimal detection and quantif...

The toxicity of dichlorvos (DDVP), an organophosphate (OP) pesticide, classically results from modification of the serine in the active sites of cholinesterases. However, DDVP also forms adducts on unrelated targets such as transferrin and albumin, suggesting that DDVP could cause perturbations in cellular processes by modifying noncholinesterase targets. Here we identify novel DDVP-modified ta...

trans-2-Nonenal is an unsaturated aldehyde with an unpleasant greasy and grassy odor endogenously generated during the peroxidation of polyunsaturated fatty acids. 2-Nonenal covalently modified human serum albumin through a reaction in which the aldehyde preferentially reacted with the lysine residues. Modified proteins were immunogenic, and a specific monoclonal antibody (mAb) 27Q4 that cross-...