Short-term peroral toxicity of the food colour orange RN in pigs.
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Alkaline Phosphatase↗
Biomedical subjects
G Würtzen
Publications and source records attributed to G Würtzen.
Chronic study on BHT in rats.
Groups of 40, 29, 39 and 44 F0 rats of each sex were fed a semi-synthetic diet containing butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) in concentrations to provide intakes of 0, 25, 100 or 500 mg/kg body weight/day, respectively. The F0 rats were mated, and groups of 100, 80, 80 and 100 F1 rats of each sex were formed. After weaning, the highest dose of BHT was lowered to 250 mg/kg/day for the F1 rats. At weaning the BHT-treated F1 rats, especially the males, had lower body weights than the controls and the effect was dose related. The survival of the BHT-treated rats of both sexes was higher than that of the controls. Dose-related increases in the numbers of hepatocellular adenomas and carcinomas were statistically significant in male F1 rats when all groups together were tested for heterogeneity or analysis for trend. The increases in hepatocellular adenomas and carcinomas in treated female F1 rats were only statistically significant for adenomas in the analysis for trend. All hepatocellular tumours were detected when the F1 rats were more than 2 years old.
Adenoma↗
BHA study in pigs.
Butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) was given to pregnant SPF pigs (Danish Landrace) in doses of 0, 50, 200 and 400 mg/kg body weight/day from mating to day 110 of the gestation period. The BHA was mixed in the diet (pelleted). Caesarean section was performed on gestation day 110. BHA affected neither the reproduction data nor the incidence of defects in the foetuses. Significantly lower weight gain was observed in the group of dams on the highest dose. Absolute and relative organ weights for the liver and thyroid gland showed a dose-related increase. Proliferative and parakeratotic proliferative changes of the stratified epithelium of the stomach were found in both control and treated pigs. In addition, proliferative and parakeratotic changes of the oesophageal epithelium were observed in a few pigs in the two groups on the highest doses. Papillomas were not found, and no changes of the glandular part of the stomach were observed.
Administration, Oral↗
Short-term toxicity study in rats dosed with menthone.
Menthone, a component of peppermint oil, was given p.o. to groups of 10 male and 10 female rats at dose levels of 0, 200, 400 and 800 mg/kg b.w./day, respectively, for 28 days. After 19 days the dose was reduced to 400 mg/kg b.w. in the female group receiving the highest dose. Analyses of plasma showed a dose-dependent decrease in creatinine content and a dose-dependent increase in alkaline phosphatase activity and bilirubin. The relative weights of liver and spleen were increased. Cyst-like spaces were seen histopathologically in the white matter of the cerebellum of the two highest dose groups. The no-effect level for menthone in this study was lower than 200 mg/kg b.w./day.
Animals↗
Mathematical modelling and quantitative methods.
The present review reports on the mathematical methods and statistical techniques presently available for hazard characterisation. The state of the art of mathematical modelling and quantitative methods used currently for regulatory decision-making in Europe and additional potential methods for risk assessment of chemicals in food and diet are described. Existing practices of JECFA, FDA, EPA, etc., are examined for their similarities and differences. A framework is established for the development of new and improved quantitative methodologies. Areas for refinement, improvement and increase of efficiency of each method are identified in a gap analysis. Based on this critical evaluation, needs for future research are defined. It is concluded from our work that mathematical modelling of the dose-response relationship would improve the risk assessment process. An adequate characterisation of the dose-response relationship by mathematical modelling clearly requires the use of a sufficient number of dose groups to achieve a range of different response levels. This need not necessarily lead to an increase in the total number of animals in the study if an appropriate design is used. Chemical-specific data relating to the mode or mechanism of action and/or the toxicokinetics of the chemical should be used for dose-response characterisation whenever possible. It is concluded that a single method of hazard characterisation would not be suitable for all kinds of risk assessments, and that a range of different approaches is necessary so that the method used is the most appropriate for the data available and for the risk characterisation issue. Future refinements to dose-response characterisation should incorporate more clearly the extent of uncertainty and variability in the resulting output.
Animals↗
Threshold of toxicological concern for chemical substances present in the diet: a practical tool for assessing the need for toxicity testing.
The de minimis concept acknowledges a human exposure threshold value for chemicals below which there is no significant risk to human health. It is the underlying principle for the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulation on substances used in food-contact articles. Further to this, the principle of Threshold of Toxicological Concern (TTC) has been developed and is now used by the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) in their evaluations. Establishing an accepted TTC would benefit consumers, industry and regulators, since it would preclude extensive toxicity evaluations when human intakes are below such threshold, and direct considerable time and cost resources towards testing substances with the highest potential risk to human health. It was questioned, however, whether specific endpoints that may potentially give rise to low-dose effects would be covered by such threshold. In this review, the possibility of defining a TTC for chemical substances present in the diet was examined for general toxicity endpoints (including carcinogenicity), as well as for specific endpoints, namely neurotoxicity and developmental neurotoxicity, immunotoxicity and developmental toxicity. For each of these endpoints, a database of specific no-observed-effect levels (NOELs) was compiled by screening oral toxicity studies. The substances recorded in each specific database were selected on the basis of their demonstrated adverse effects. For the neurotoxicity and developmental neurotoxicity databases, it was intended to cover all classes of compounds reported to have either a demonstrated neurotoxic or developmentally neurotoxic effect, or at least, on a biochemical or pharmacological basis were considered to have a potential for displaying such effects. For the immunotoxicity endpoint, it was ensured that only immunotoxicants were included in the database by selecting most of the substances from the Luster et al. database, provided that they satisfied the criteria for immunotoxicity defined by Luster. For the developmental toxicity database, substances were selected from the Munro et al. database that contained the lowest NOELs retrieved from the literature for more than 600 compounds. After screening these, substances showing any effect which could point to developmental toxicity as broadly defined by the US were recorded in the database. Additionally, endocrine toxicity and allergenicity were addressed as two separate cases, using different approaches and methodology. The distributions of NOELs for the neurotoxicity, developmental neurotoxicity and developmental toxicity endpoints were compared with the distribution of NOELs for non-specific carcinogenic endpoints. As the immunotoxicity database was too limited to draw such a distribution of immune NOELs, the immunotoxicity endpoint was evaluated by comparing immune NOELs (or LOELs-lowest-observed-effect levels-when NOELs were not available) with non-immune NOELs (or LOELs), in order to compare the sensitivity of this endpoint with non-specific endpoints. A different methodology was adopted for the evaluation of the endocrine toxicity endpoint since data currently available do not permit the establishment of a clear causal link between endocrine active chemicals and adverse effects in humans. Therefore, this endpoint was analysed by estimating the human exposure to oestrogenic environmental chemicals and evaluating their potential impact on human health, based on their contribution to the overall exposure, and their estrogenic potency relative to endogenous hormones. The allergenicity endpoint was not analysed as such. It was addressed in a separate section because this issue is not relevant to the overall population but rather to subsets of susceptible individuals, and allergic risks are usually controlled by other means (i.e. labelling) than the Threshold of Toxicological Concern approach. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED)
Animals↗
Scientific evaluation of the safety factor for the acceptable daily intake (ADI). Case study: butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA).
The principles of 'data-derived safety factors' are applied to toxicological and biochemical information on butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA). The calculated safety factor for an ADI is, by this method, comparable to the existing internationally recognized safety evaluations. Relevance for humans of forestomach tumours in rodents is discussed. The method provides a basis for organizing data in a way that permits an explicit assessment of its relevance.
Animals↗