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Biomedical subjects

M Gareis

Publications and source records attributed to M Gareis.

17 recordsLinked to original sources

[Determination of Escherichia coli Shiga-like toxins by means of the MTT bioassay].

Tissue culture cells' metabolism and viability are measured by the mitochondrial reduction rate of a yellow tetrazolium salt (MTT) to blue formazan crystals in the MTT-bioassay. Thus the MTT-bioassay is a standardizable and reproducible bioassay for measuring cytotoxicity or cytostimulation. It is shown that the MTT-bioassay is also very suitable for determining bacterial cytotoxins using Escherichia coli's Shiga-like toxins as example. 177 strains of E. coli, isolated from carcasses and organs of cattle, are classified biochemically and tested for cytotoxin production by means of the MTT-bioassay. One of these strains is recognized as producer of Shiga-like toxin 2. 4 Enterohemolysin-producing strains of E. coli are cultivated from a feces sample of a diarrhoeic nubian ibex and identified as Shiga-like toxin 1 producers by help of the MTT-bioassay.

Animals

Homologous recombination of exogenous DNA fragments with genomic DNA in somatic cells of mice.

We compared liposomes and empty viral capsids for their use as vehicles for DNA transfer into cells and animals. DNA binding capacity was high for liposomes, but DNase I protection of DNA bound to liposomes was only moderate in comparison to DNA incorporated into viral capsids. Cellular uptake of radiolabeled and physiologically active DNA was also compared. For animal studies we chose an endogenous retroposon as target gene. To identify recombinational events we replaced a part of this gene with an artificial sequence not present in the mouse genome. The recombination rate for DNA fragments transfected in Polyoma capsids in live mice was higher than for liposome mediated transfection. Homologous recombination could be observed for both DNA transfer methods, mediated by positively charged liposomes (DOTMA) and by empty Polyoma viral capsids.

Animals

Use of liposomes, viral capsids, and nanoparticles as DNA carriers.

We tested a variety of liposomes for parameters such as DNA binding capacity and DNase I protection of incorporated and attached DNA to elucidate their use as vehicles for DNA transfer into cells and animals. The results were compared to other potential DNA vehicles, empty viral capsids, and nanoparticles. Maximal binding capacity was achieved for positively charged nanoparticles, DNase I protection was observed for most preparations with neosome preparations being least efficient. The uptake of radiolabeled DNA by cells in culture was determined for cationic and nonionic surfactant vesicles, viral capsids, and nanoparticles. Cellular DNA uptake was best for dioleoyl-derived positively charged liposomes (N-[1-(2,3-dioleoyloxy)propyl]-N,N,N-trimethylammonium chloride; DOTMA) and the DNA could be shown to be physiologically active. The recombination rate for DNA fragments transfected in polyoma capsids in live mice was higher than for liposome mediated transfection. Homologous recombination could be observed for both DOTMA and polyoma-mediated DNA transfer.

Animals

Cleavage of zearalenone-glycoside, a "masked" mycotoxin, during digestion in swine.

Comparative analyses of cereal samples pretreated with or without beta-glucosidase indicate the presence of zearalenone-glycoside. To examine the stability of zearalenone-glycoside during digestion, mixed feed was artificially contaminated with synthesized zearalenone-4-beta-D-glucopyranoside (395 micrograms/kg) and fed to a pig over a period of 14 days. The metabolites detected in feces and urine samples were zearalenone and alpha-zearalenol. These results demonstrate that zearalenone-4-beta-D-glucopyranoside is decomposed during digestion and the aglucone, zearalenone, is released. Since zearalenone-glycoside is not detected during routine analysis, but hydrolysed during digestion, it seems likely that such "masked mycotoxins" are involved in cases of mycotoxicoses.

Animal Feed

Isolation of a mycotoxin (gliotoxin) from a bovine udder infected with Aspergillus fumigatus.

A bovine udder infected with Aspergillus fumigatus was analysed by physico-chemical methods (thin layer chromatography, high performance liquid chromatography and direct exposure probe-mass spectrometry) for the presence of mycotoxins. Gliotoxin, a fungal metabolite with cytotoxic and immunosuppressive properties was isolated for the first time from naturally infected tissue. The gliotoxin concentration analysed (9.2 mg kg-1 udder) was approximately 100 times higher than the concentration known to produce morphological changes of cells. Gliotoxin may play an important role in the establishment and development of an infection with A fumigatus.

Animals

Metabolism of T-2 toxin in vascularly autoperfused jejunal loops of rats.

The intestinal metabolism of T-2 toxin, a major trichothecene mycotoxin, was investigated in rats using the method of the vascularly autoperfused jejunal loop in situ. Tritium-labeled T-2 toxin was injected into the tied-off intestinal segments at a dose of 5 or 500 nmol, respectively. T-2 toxin and its metabolites in the blood draining from the jejunal loops, in the intestinal lumen, and in the intestinal tissue were determined by HPLC and GLC-MS. There was an extensive metabolic degradation of T-2 toxin, the metabolite pattern being similar for the two dosage levels. During the experimental period of 50 min only some 2% of the total dose appeared in the effluent plasma as unchanged T-2 toxin. Likewise at the end of the experiments unchanged T-2 toxin in the intestinal lumen and tissue was present in minute amounts only (less than 1% of the dose). HT-2 toxin was the main metabolite. About 25% of the total radioactivity administered appeared in the effluent plasma as HT-2 toxin, 18% in the lumen and 10% in the tissue. 3'-OH-HT-2 toxin accounted for 4-7% (effluent plasma), 5% (lumen), and 2% (tissue) of the total dose. Furthermore small amounts (less than 2% of the dose) of 3'-OH-T-2 toxin, T-2 tetraol, and 4-deacetylneosolaniol were found. No glucuronide or sulfate conjugates could be detected. In the jejunal segments which had been exposed to the 5-nmol dose only minimal morphological alterations were observed. On the other hand, in jejunal segments exposed to the high dose marked tissue damage was present. Nevertheless the gut tissue retained its ability to metabolize T-2 toxin. From the present results it is concluded that T-2 toxin is subject to a marked presystemic first pass effect after oral ingestion in vivo.

Animals

[Determination of ochratoxin A in human milk].

A method for the determination of ochratoxin A in milk is described. The milk is homogenized in a buffer solution at pH 1.6 to release ochratoxin A from its bond to proteins. Ochratoxin A is extracted with chloroform and the extract cleaned up using a base clean-up step. Analysis is performed by high-pressure liquid chromatography, using a reversed-phase column and fluorescence detection. The detection limit of the method is 0.1 ng/ml and the average recovery rate, tested in the range between 0.5 and 10.0 ng/ml, was found to be 83.1%. Chemical ionization mass spectrometry (direct exposure probe) and an enzyme immunoassay were used as confirmatory tests. Using this method, trace amounts of ochratoxin A were found in 4 of 36 randomly collected human milk samples.

Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid

Enzyme immunoassay for the macrocyclic trichothecene roridin A: production, properties, and use of rabbit antibodies.

Antisera against roridin A were prepared by using a roridin A-hemisuccinate derivative coupled to human serum albumin as the immunogen. Antibodies could be detected in the sera of the immunized rabbits as early as 4 weeks after the initial exposure. After one booster injection at week 14, high antibody titers were measured over a period of 21 weeks. The specificity and sensitivity of the antibodies were tested by using roridin A-hemisuccinate coupled to horseradish peroxidase as an enzyme-linked toxin in a competitive assay with a double-antibody solid phase. The assay was most specific for the tested macrocyclic trichothecenes, and the relative cross-reactivities with roridin A, roridin J, verrucarin A, satratoxin H, and satratoxin G were 1, 0.41, 0.15, 0.15, and 0.07, respectively. When 16 nonmacrocyclic trichothecenes were tested, only diacetylverrucarol (0.0015) and verrucarol (0.0005) showed minor cross-reactivity. The sensitivity of the enzyme immunoassay for the detection of roridin A was in the range of 5 to 50 ng/ml (0.16 to 1.6 ng per assay).

Animals

[Changes in the genital tract of female swine after feeding with practice-relevant amounts of zearalenone].

Zearalenone is one of the most frequent, naturally occurring mycotoxins in feedstuffs: 13.9% of 710 samples analyzed contained zearalenone in concentrations of 1.0 to 1,725 micrograms/kg. Trial feeding with female pigs demonstrated that a zearalenone concentration of 250 micrograms/kg feed produced distinct redness and swelling of the vulva, slight swelling of the mamma and numerous vesicular follicles and some cystic follicles on the ovaria. The symptoms on the external genital tract were not observed when the zearalenone concentration in the feedstuff, was 50 micrograms/kg but the section also established that vesicular follicles on the ovaria of these animals were more frequent than on the ovaria of the control animal.

Animal Feed

Identification of glucuronide metabolites of T-2 toxin and diacetoxyscirpenol in the bile of isolated perfused rat liver.

Isolated rat livers were perfused with either 2 mg T-2 toxin or diacetoxyscirpenol (DAS) in a recirculating perfusion system. To identify glucuronide conjugates, equal amounts of bile samples were incubated with and without (control) a beta-glucuronidase preparation and analyzed by capillary gas liquid chromatography-chemical ionization mass spectrometry. Enzyme treatment of bile obtained from liver perfused with T-2 toxin resulted in the detection of a total of 954 micrograms HT-2 toxin (control 6 micrograms), demonstrating that excretion into the bile was mainly as glucuronide conjugates. Minor metabolites of T-2 toxin in bile were identified as 3'-hydroxy HT-2 toxin (TC-3), 3'-hydroxy-7-hydroxy HT-2 toxin (TC-6), and the glucuronide form of T-2 triol (trace amount). The glucuronide conjugates of monoacetoxyscirpenol (340 micrograms) and scirpenetriol (10 micrograms) were found in bile obtained from liver perfused with DAS, while nonconjugated metabolites were not detected. It is assumed that considerable amounts of T-2 toxin and DAS were metabolized biphasically. In phase I both trichothecenes were deacetylated, in phase II the metabolites were conjugated giving rise to the glucuronic acid adducts.

Animals

Kinetic profiles of diacetoxyscirpenol and two of its metabolites in blood serum of pigs.

Orally administered diacetoxyscirpenol (2 mg/kg of body weight) was rapidly absorbed into the blood serum of pigs; within 1 h, the highest amounts of diacetoxyscirpenol (9.6 to 21.9 ng/ml) were detected. Two metabolites of diacetoxyscirpenol were identified by gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy as monoacetoxyscirpenol and scirpenetriol. The three trichothecenes were present in the blood serum of pigs for only 24 h, indicating a rapid metabolism of these compounds.

Animals

[Fusarium toxins in feed. Detection and occurrence of trichothecenes].

Mycotoxicoses have been recognized worldwide to cause problems in animal production. Trichothecene mycotoxins, for the most part produced by Fusarium spp., have obtained particular importance. Between 1982 and 1984, 295 samples of feedstuffs (cereals and mixed feeds) have been analyzed on natural occurrence of type-A trichothecenes. The skin toxicity test with guinea pigs was used as a screening method. Analysis of trichothecenes by capillary gaschromatography with flame ionization detection was complicated by interfering substances from the complex matrix of the sample-material. Definite results were only obtained by the use of gaschromatography-mass spectrometry. In comparison to the electron impact ionization the chemical ionization technique showed to be advantageous. Forty-two of the 295 samples analyzed were found to be positive in the biological assay. Nine of these positive samples contained trichothecenes as determined by mass spectrometry: T-2 toxin in mixed feed (65 micrograms/kg); oats (80 and 86 micrograms/kg) and wheat (100 micrograms/kg); diacetoxyscirpenol in mixed feed (125 micrograms/kg) and wheat (50 micrograms/kg); neosolaniol in oats (310 and 350 micrograms/kg); HT-2 toxin in oats (700 micrograms/kg). Oats proved to be contaminated more frequently as compared to the other cereals and the analyzed mixed feeds.

Animal Feed

Stimulation of aflatoxin B1 and T-2 toxin production by sorbic acid.

Aspergillus flavus grown on yeast extract-sucrose medium produced higher amounts of aflatoxin B1 in the presence of 0.025% sorbic acid than without this chemical with a maximum at 17 days of incubation. Addition of 0.05 to 0.0125% sorbic acid stimulated T-2 toxin production of Fusarium acuminatum cultures grown on maize meal. The highest amounts of the mycotoxin were detected in 14-day-old cultures containing 0.025% sorbic acid. It is assumed that certain amounts of sorbic acid near the minimal inhibitory concentration reduce the activity of the tricarboxylic acid cycle; this may lead to an accumulation of acetyl coenzyme A, which is an essential intermediate in the biosynthesis of aflatoxin B1 and T-2 toxin.

Aflatoxin B1

[Analytical methods for mycotoxins].

Biological, physico-chemical and immunochemical methods are available today for solving the multiple problems which turn up in the course of mycotoxin diagnosis and mycotoxin research. In this review, selected analysis techniques are presented and their limits and possibilities are discussed. The biological methods (chicken-embryo-test, skin irritation test, cell cultures) indicate only toxicities, mostly without further specification for mycotoxins. In contrast, modern physico-chemical analysis (DC, HPLC, CLC, MS) allows the detection of defined mycotoxins in the picogram range; these methods should be employed or official and judicial purposes. The recently developed immunochemical methods (RIA, EIA) are characterized by a simple sample preparation, a short test duration and a high sensitivity; they could be used as a screening method in the course of mycotoxicological control of food and feed.

Animal Feed