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Biomedical subjects

W Stücker

Publications and source records attributed to W Stücker.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

Anaphylactic reactions to ingested carmine (E120).

We report five cases of anaphylactic reaction to carmine (cochineal, E120) after patients drank an alcoholic beverage. By means of positive skin prick tests (SPT) and positive RAST to carmine. IgE-mediated sensitization could be established. One nonatopic patient showed also a great amount of serum IgE antibodies to the carmine acid-albumin conjugate. Due to its widespread use in the food and cosmetic industry, carmine should be tested in the allergy work-up in case of allergic reactions after a drink or a meal.

Adult↗

Determination of S-phenylmercapturic acid in the urine--an improvement in the biological monitoring of benzene exposure.

In an inhalation study rats were exposed to different doses of benzene, ranging from 1 to 500 p.p.m. The urine was sampled during the inhalation period of 8 h and for 24 h after exposure. S-Phenylmercapturic acid (S-PMA) in the urine was determined by amino acid analysis. Phenol was measured by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. In both cases the correlation between benzene uptake and the excretion of the urinary metabolites was significant at the level of P = 0.01. The same significant correlation (P = 0.01) was demonstrable after i.p. administration of benzene at doses between 0.7 and 140.0 microliters/kg body weight. In the case of two collectives of workers who were exposed to air concentrations of up to 0.15 p.p.m. for 8 h and of up to 1.13 p.p.m. for 12 h respectively, the amount of S-PMA in the first urine samples after the shift was significantly higher than in samples collected at the beginning of the shift (P = 0.01). In the first collective the mean values and the standard deviations of the S-PMA concentrations in the samples at the beginning of the shift were 12.0 +/- 16.7 compared with 48.5 +/- 64.5 micrograms/g creatinine at shift end. In the second collective they were 25.1 +/- 25.1 compared with 70.9 +/- 109.2 micrograms/g creatinine. The level of significance of the difference between the concentration values of S-PMA at the beginning and end of the shift was P = 0.01. The phenol concentration did not differ significantly. These results suggest that S-PMA can be regarded as a useful indicator for monitoring individuals and collectives exposed to benzene at levels even less than 1 p.p.m.

Acetylcysteine↗

Biomonitoring of benzene exposure by trace analyses of phenylguanine.

From preliminary experiments it was known that radiolabelled benzene and some of its metabolites during its metabolic activation process produce different in vitro DNA-phenyladducts in mitoplasts. As we reported previously at least one of these adducts, N-7-phenylguanine, is excreted in the urine of rats in measurable amounts, probably through an excision-repair mechanism after an inhalation experiment. Now we found, after i.p. application of benzene in the urine of rats, a compound separated by cation-exchange chromatography that behaves like a synthesized N-7-phenylguanine reference substance with respect to its retention index and the UV-absorption. This finding could be confirmed by HPLC-measurements with reversed-phase carrier materials. Silylation and gas chromatographic/mass spectrometric (GC/MS) separation of the fraction, which contains the phenylguanine, revealed that these fractions contain further phenyl adducts. Furthermore we studied the time-dependent excretion of the DNA-base adduct. Surprisingly the excretion dropped to zero on the fourth day and showed a new increase thereafter.

Animals↗

Urinary excretion of mutagens in passive smokers.

Six healthy young volunteers with no history of active smoking were asked to keep on their Western diets avoiding the consumption of alcoholic beverages, excess coffee, any sort of medicament, and the known pro- and/or anti-mutagen-containing foods and drinks, 24 h before and during the experiments. They were exposed passively to cigarette smoke produced by 4 habitual smokers in an unventilated 48.6 m3 room for 8 h. The carbon monoxide concentration was 18.85 +/- 7.3 ppm during the 8-h exposure. Frameshift mutagens were isolated from 10-h urine samples using chloroform and were tested for mutagenicity in the Salmonella/mammalian microsome assay employing Salmonella typhimurium TA98. Although clearly enhanced, no significant mutagenic activity could be found with 25 ml equivalent urine/plate after passive exposure to cigarette smoke. The weak mutagenicities found were highly significant when 50 ml equivalent urine/plate was tested. No direct correlation was observed between urine mutagenicity and the urinary cotinine concentration. The results obtained are discussed with reference to inconsistent reports in the literature concerning the mutagenicity of urine after passive smoking.

Adult↗