Herbal products are being used and trusted globally for thousands of years for their health benefits and limited side effects. Globally, a general belief amongst the consumers is that herbal supplements are always safe because they are &#x201c;natural.&#x201d; But later, research reveals that they may not be safe. This raises concern on their safety and implications for their use as feed supplement or medicine. Toxicity testing can reveal some of the risks that may be associated with use of herbs, therefore avoiding potential harmful effects. The present study was designed to investigate five poultry feed supplements (PFS), EGMAX&#xae; (to revitalize ovarian activity), FEED-X&#x2122; (feed efficiency enhancer), KOLIN PLUS&#x2122; (natural replacer of synthetic choline chloride), PHYTOCEE&#xae; (natural defence enhancer), and STODI&#xae; (to prevent and control loose droppings), for their possible mutagenicity and toxicity. Bacterial reverse mutation (BRMT) and acute oral toxicity tests were employed to assess the PFS for their possible mutagenicity and toxicity. Results indicated that the PFS were devoid of mutagenic effects in BRMT and showed higher safety profile in rodent acute oral toxicity test.

Boddapati Srinivasa Rao

C. V. Chandrasekaran

H. S. Srikanth

Murugan Sasikumar

R. Edwin Jothie

Begum Haseena

Bethapudi Bharathi

Ramasamy Selvam

D&#x2019;Souza Prashanth

Mutagenicity and Acute Oral Toxicity Test for Herbal Poultry Feed Supplements

Since they are natural, plants are wrongly considered nondangerous; therefore people used them in various contexts. Each plant is used alone or in mixture with others, where knowledge and the requirements of preparation and consumption are not mastered. Thus, intoxications due to the use of plants have become more and more frequent. The reports of intoxications made at the Antipoison Center and Pharmacovigilance of Morocco (ACPM) support this finding, since the interrogations suffered by the victims show that the use of plants is practiced irrationally, anarchically, and uncontrollably. Faced by the increase of these cases of poisoning in Morocco, it seemed necessary to investigate the nature of poisonous plants, their monographs, and the chemicals responsible for this toxicity.

Hanane Benzeid

Fadma Gouaz

Abba Hamadoun Tour&#xe9;

Mustapha Bouatia

Mohamed Oulad Bouyahya Idrissi

Mustapha Draoui

Inventory of Toxic Plants in Morocco: An Overview of the Botanical, Biogeography, and Phytochemistry Studies

The colorless carotenoids phytoene and phytofluene are comparatively understudied compounds found in common foods (e.g., tomatoes) and in human plasma, internal tissues, and skin. Being naturally present in common foods, their intake at dietary levels is not expected to present a safety concern. However, since the interest in these compounds in the context of many applications is expanding, it is important to conduct studies aimed at assessing their safety. We present here results of in vitro cytotoxicity and genotoxicity studies, revealing no significant cytotoxic or genotoxic potential and of short- and long-term human in vivo skin compatibility studies with phytoene- and phytofluene-rich tomato and Dunaliella salina alga extracts, showing a lack of irritancy or sensitization reactions. These results support the safe use of phytoene- and phytofluene-rich products in human topical applications.

Fabien Havas

Shlomo Krispin

Antonio J. Mel&#xe9;ndez-Mart&#xed;nez

Liki von Oppen-Bezalel

Preliminary Data on the Safety of Phytoene- and Phytofluene-Rich Products for Human Use including Topical Application

Video tracking based biological early warning system achieved a great progress with advanced computer vision and machine learning methods. Ability of video tracking of multiple biological organisms has been largely improved in recent years. Video based behavioral monitoring has become a common tool for acquiring quantified behavioral data for aquatic risk assessment. Investigation of behavioral responses under chemical and environmental stress has been boosted by rapidly developed machine learning and artificial intelligence. In this paper, we introduce the fundamental of video tracking and present the pioneer works in precise tracking of a group of individuals in 2D and 3D space. Technical and practical issues suffered in video tracking are explained. Subsequently, the toxic analysis based on fish behavioral data is summarized. Frequently used computational methods and machine learning are explained with their applications in aquatic toxicity detection and abnormal pattern analysis. Finally, advantages of recent developed deep learning approach in toxic prediction are presented.

Chunlei Xia

Longwen Fu

Zuoyi Liu

Hui Liu

Lingxin Chen

Yuedan Liu

Aquatic Toxic Analysis by Monitoring Fish Behavior Using Computer Vision: A Recent Progress

In recent years, natural bioactive components draw a major attention for their potent anticarcinogenic activity. Cinnamon, one of the traditional spices, most frequently used in almost every household of tropical countries has got enormous efficacy to combat cancer. Cinnamon as a whole and/or its active components exhibited significant antineoplastic activity in different types of cancer. This review has been carried out to elicit the molecular mechanisms of action of cinnamon and its components on oncogenic regulators and related pathways. Web sites of Google Scholar, Medline, and PubMed were searched for articles written in English and published in peer-reviewed journals from 2003 to 2017. The anticarcinogenic potential of cinnamon varies with the type of cancer and also depends on the administered active compound individually or in combination with some chemicals or even extract of cinnamon as a whole. Some of its active components exert chemosensitization of well-known anticancer drugs. These outstanding properties of this spice necessitate its incorporation in both pharmaceuticals and nutraceuticals to explore possibilities of formulation of novel drug from this spice for treatment and prevention strategy of cancer.

Anindita Dutta

Anindita Chakraborty

Cinnamon in Anticancer Armamentarium: A Molecular Approach

The novel positive-contrast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) marker C4 consists of an aqueous solution of cobalt chloride (CoCl2) complexed with the chelator N-acetylcysteine (NAC). We evaluated whether the presence of C4 or its components would produce reactive oxygen species (ROS, including hydroxyl, peroxyl, or other reactive oxygen species) in cultured cells. Human cancer or normal cells were incubated with 1% (w/v) CoCl2·6H2O or 2% NAC or a combination of both (1% CoCl2·6H2O : 2% NAC in an aqueous solution, abbreviated as Co : NAC) in the presence or absence of H2O2. Intracellular ROS levels were measured and quantified by change in relative fluorescence units. Student’s <svg xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" style="vertical-align:-0.2063999pt" id="M1" height="8.02022pt" version="1.1" viewBox="-0.0498162 -7.81382 4.54925 8.02022" width="4.54925pt"><g transform="matrix(.013,0,0,-0.013,0,0)"><path id="g113-117" d="M324 430H196L233 583L223 592L145 529L120 430H54L29 396L31 388H111L56 126C33 15 54 -12 77 -12C137 -12 214 57 250 95L233 119C208 92 155 59 138 59C126 59 120 70 131 125L186 390L298 394L324 430Z"/></g></svg>-tests were used. In all cell lines exposed to 1000 μM H2O2, the Co : NAC led to ≥94.7% suppression of ROS at 5 minutes and completely suppressed ROS at 60 and 90 minutes; NAC suppressed ROS by ≥76.6% at 5 minutes and by ≥94.5% at 90 minutes; and CoCl2·6H2O suppressed ROS by ≥37.2% at 30 minutes and by ≥48.6% at 90 minutes. These results demonstrate that neither Co : NAC nor its components generated ROS; rather, they suppressed ROS production in cultured cells, suggesting that C4 would not enhance ROS production in clinical use.

Li Wang

Eric Lin

Mary J. Johansen

Timothy Madden

Edward Felix

Karen S. Martirosyan

Steven J. Frank

Reactive Oxygen Species Generation in Human Cells by a Novel Magnetic Resonance Imaging Contrast Agent

Movement behaviors of an indicator species, Daphnia magna, in response to contaminants have been implemented to monitor environmental disturbances. Complexity in movement tracks of Daphnia magna was characterized by use of fractal dimension and self-organizing map. The individual movement tracks of D. magna were continuously recorded for 24 hours before and after treatments with toluene at the concentration of 10&#x2009;mg/L, respectively. The general complexity in movement tracks (10 minutes) was characterized by fractal dimension. Results showed that average fractal dimension of movement tracks was decreased from 1.62 to 1.22 after treatments. The instantaneous movement parameters of movement segments in 5&#x2009;s were input into the self-organizing map to investigate the swimming pattern changes under stresses of toluene. Abnormal behaviors of D. magna are more frequently observed after treatments than before treatments. Computational methods in ecological informatics could be utilized to obtain the useful information in behavioral data of D. magna and would be further applied as an in situ monitoring tool in water environment.

Zhongya Fan

Renren Wu

Xianglin Chen

Implementation of Fractal Dimension and Self-Organizing Map to Detect Toxic Effects of Toluene on Movement Tracks of Daphnia magna

A series of toxicological investigations were conducted in order to evaluate the genotoxic potential and repeated-dose oral toxicity of CuroWhite, a proprietary extract of curcumin that has been hydrogenated and standardized to not less than 25&#x25; hydrogenated curcuminoid content. All tests were conducted in general accordance with internationally accepted standards. The test item was not mutagenic in the bacterial reverse mutation test or in vitro mammalian chromosomal aberration test, and no in vivo genotoxic activity was observed in rat bone marrow in the micronucleus test. A 90-day repeated-dose study was conducted in male and female Sprague-Dawley rats. Two mortalities occurred in the main and satellite high-dose groups and were determined due to gavage error. No organ specific or other toxic effects of the test item were observed up to the maximum dose of 800&#x2009;mg/kg&#x2009;bw/day, administered by gavage. NOAEL was, therefore, estimated as 800&#x2009;mg/kg&#x2009;bw/day.

Alastimmanahalli Narasimhiah Ravikumar

Joby Jacob

Sreeraj Gopi

Tumkur Subbarao Jagannath

A Toxicological Evaluation of a Standardized Hydrogenated Extract of Curcumin (CuroWhite&#x2122;)

The species Kalanchoe brasiliensis, known as &#x201c;Sai&#xe3;o,&#x201d; has anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and antihistamine activities. It also has the quercetin and kaempferol flavonoids, which exert their therapeutic activities. With extensive popular use besides the defined therapeutical properties, the study of possible side effects is indispensable. The objective of this study is to evaluate the toxicity in vitro and in vivo from the hydroethanolic extract of the leaves of K. brasiliensis. The action of the extract (concentrations from 0.1 to 1000&#x2009;uL/100&#x2009;uL) in normal and tumor cells was evaluated using the MTT method. Acute toxicity and subchronic toxicity were evaluated in mice with doses of 250 to 1000&#x2009;mg/kg orally, following recognized protocols. The in vitro results indicated cytotoxic activity for 3T3 cell line (normal) and 786-0 (kidney carcinoma), showing the activity to be concentration-dependent, reaching 92.23&#x25; cell inhibition. In vivo, the extract showed no significant toxicity; only liver changes related to acute toxicity and some signs of liver damage, combining biochemical and histological data. In general, the extract showed low or no toxicity, introducing itself as safe for use with promising therapeutic potential.

Aldilane Gon&#xe7;alves Fonseca

Luzia Leiros Sena Fernandes Ribeiro Dantas

J&#xfa;lia Morais Fernandes

Silvana Maria Zucolotto

Adley Antoninni Neves Lima

Luiz Alberto Lira Soares

Hugo Alexandre Oliveira Rocha

Telma Maria Ara&#xfa;jo Moura Lemos

In Vivo and In Vitro Toxicity Evaluation of Hydroethanolic Extract of Kalanchoe brasiliensis (Crassulaceae) Leaves

About this journal

Journal of Toxicology publishes papers in all areas of toxicological sciences, including the structure, function, and mechanism of agents toxic to humans and/or animals, as well as toxicological medicine, safety evaluation, and environmental health.

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Chief Editor, Professor You-Cheng Hseu, is based at China Medical University. His research focuses on the biology of free radicals, bioactivity in traditional Chinese medicines, and antioxidants and cosmeceutics.

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Journal of Toxicology - Table of contents 2018

title

Journal of Toxicology publishes papers in all areas of toxicological sciences, including the structure, function, and mechanism of agents toxic to humans and/or animals, as well as toxicological medicine, safety evaluation, and environmental health.

Journal of Toxicology