Select theme :
Font Size :
Predefined Color Skins :
Search content :

Food, Drug & Chemical Toxicology

Preamble/Overview

Food is of paramount importance as it is required in sufficient quantity to provide a healthy life. There is increasing concern about food safety and food contamination either through environmental pollution or adulteration round the globe. To ensure an adequate food supply during non-agriculturally productive periods, it has become necessary to find methods to preserve and process the food. With the fast growth of food processing industries, the trend towards the use of various food additives added for technological purposes has also increased. New chemical entities are being exploited as additives in food. The adulteration of food due to deliberate mixing of inferior grade agents for disguising and to earn undue profits is also a serious problem. Furthermore, un-intentional contaminants may creep up during field production or processing and storage. Recombinant DNA technology for production of GM food has to be exploited for adequate food supply or else the crisis shall keep on increasing. However, the safety of this GM food/crop has to be established before commercialization. Based on our traditional knowledge the beneficial effects of herbs are a promising area for encountering several toxic manifestations. Thus, toxicity/safety data for these chemical moieties along with GM food and traditionally used herbs need to be generated.

Objectives

  • Development and/or establishment of methodologies to quantify the potential toxic agent in different matrices
  • Identification of phytochemicals/herbal preparations, which can mitigate the toxicity of above chemical moieties
  • To understand the mechanism of toxicity of new chemical entities
  • Detection of GM food/crop and their safety/allergenic assessment
  • Establishment of guidelines for food and chemical safety for regulatory agencies
  • Glimpses of Research:
    1. Arora D, Siddiqui MH, Sharma PK, Singh SP, Tripathi A, Mandal P, Singh US, Singh PK, Shukla Y, (2016). Evaluation and physiological correlation of plasma proteomic fingerprints for deltamethrin-induced hepatotoxicity in Wistar rats. Life Sci, doi: 10.1016/j. PMID: 27142831.
    2. Das M, Asthana S, Singh SP, Dixit S, Tripathi A, John TJ, (2015). Litchi fruit contains methylene cyclopropyl-glycine. Curr Sci, 109: 2195-97.
    3. Dixit G, Singh AP, Kumar A, Dwivedi S, Deeba F, Kumar S, Suman S, Adhikari B, Shukla Y, Trivedi PK, Pandey V, Tripathi RD, (2015). Sulfur alleviates arsenic toxicity by reducing its accumulation and modulating proteome, amino acids and thiol metabolism in rice leaves. Sci Rep, 5: 16205.
    4. Gupta P, Suman S, Mishra M, Mishra S, Srivastava N, Kumar V, Singh PK, Shukla Y, (2016). Autoantibodies against TYMS and PDLIM1 proteins detected as circulatory signatures in Indian breast cancer patients. Proteomics Clin Appl, 10: 564-73.
    5. Mishra S, Srivastava AK, Suman S, Kumar V, Shukla Y, (2015). Circulating miRNAs revealed as surrogate molecular signatures for the early detection of breast cancer. Cancer Lett, 369: 67-75.
    6. Panigrahi G, Yadav A, Mandal P, Tripathi A, Das M, (2016). Immunomodulatory potential of Rhein, an anthraquinone moiety of Cassia Occidentalis seeds. Toxicol Lett, 245:15-23.
    7. Panigrahi GK, Suthar MK, Verma N, Asthana S, Tripathi A, Gupta SK, Saxena JK, Raisuddin S, Das M, (2015). Investigation of the interaction of anthraquinones of Cassia occidentalis seeds with bovine serum albumin by molecular docking and spectroscopic analysis: Correlation to their in vitro cytotoxic potential. Food Res Int, 77: 368-77.
    8. Rai G, Mishra S, Suman S, Shukla Y, (2016). Resveratrol improves the anticancer effects of doxorubicin in vitro and in vivo models: A mechanistic insight. Phytomedicine, 23: 233-42.
    9. Rizvi F, Mathur A, Krishna S, Siddiqi MI, Kakkar P, (2015). Suppression in PHLPP2 induction by morin promotes Nrf2-regulated cellular defences against oxidative injury to primary rat hepatocytes. Redox Biol, 6: 587-98.
    10. Rizvi F, Mathur A, Kakkar P, (2015). Morin mitigates acetaminophen-induced liver injury by potentiating Nrf2 regulated survival mechanism through molecular intervention in PHLPP2-Akt-Gsk3β axis. Apoptosis, 20: 1296-1306.
    11. Shukla S, Sharma A, Pandey VK, Raisuddin S, Kakkar P, (2016). Concurrent acetylation of FoxO1/3a and p53 due to sirtuins inhibition elicit Bim/PUMA mediated mitochondrial dysfunction and apoptosis in berberine-treated HepG2 cells. Toxicol Appl Pharmacol, 291: 70-83.
    12. Singh M, Bhatnagar P, Mishra S, Kumar P, Shukla Y, Gupta KC, (2015). PLGA-encapsulated tea polyphenols enhance the chemotherapeutic efficacy of cisplatin against human cancer cells and mice bearing Ehrlich ascites carcinoma. Int J Nanomedicine, 10: 6789-809.
    13. Suman S, Sharma PK, Rai G, Mishra S, Arora D, Gupta P, Shukla Y, (2016). Current perspectives of molecular pathways involved in chronic inflammation-mediated breast cancer. Biochem Biophys Res Commun, 472: 401-9.
    14. Verma AK, Sharma A, Kumar S, Gupta RK, Kumar D, Gupta K, Giridhar BH, Das M, Dwivedi PD, (2016). Purification, characterization and allergenicity assessment of 26 kDa protein, a major allergen from Cicer arietinum. Mol Immunol,74: 113–24.

    Contact person:

    Dr. Vinay Kumar Khanna

    Senior Principal Scientist
    Area Coordinator, Food, Drug & Chemical Toxicology
    CSIR-Indian Institute of Toxicology Research
    Vishvigyan Bhavan
    31, Mahatma Gandhi Marg
    Lucknow - 226 001, Uttar Pradesh, India
    Phone: +91-522-2217497
    Email: vkkhanna1[at]iitr.res.in