No 4 (2021)

Introduction. The bacterial reverse mutation test (Ames test, OECD* guideline No. 471) is one of the most popular methods for assessing mutagenicity due to its ease of use and the ability to detect up to 70–80% of substances with carcinogenic activity. The experimental protocol requires a minimum amount of test item and standard microbiological laboratory equipment. To obtain the raw data, several days from the start of the experiment are required.

Despite the existence of publications devoted to the detailed description of the standard Ames test protocol, there is a gap in a number of aspects of the procedure for confirming the competence of a test facility using this method in its practice.

Materials and methods. When preparing this article, we used the literature data published in Russian and foreign literature over the past 20 years concerning experimental approaches to the implementation of the Ames test. The literature search was carried out in the Scopus, Medline, Google Scholar, RSCI databases.

Results. In the FBES “Federal Scientific Center of Hygiene named after F.F. Erisman” of the Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing the bacterial mutation assay has found application in studying the safety of technical grade active ingredients of pesticides, their mixtures and formulation, as well as in the assessment of equivalence. The test facility on the basis of the FBES “Federal Scientific Center of Hygiene named after F.F. Erisman” of the Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing is accredited for compliance with the state standard GOST ISO / IEC 17025-2019” General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories. “In this article, based on new published data and our own practical experience, a number of necessary conditions are considered for demonstrating the competence of a testing laboratory using the Ames test in its practice, its ability to obtain reliable results and take actions to manage the risks of laboratory activities. The main attention is paid to ensuring such parameters of the test quality as indicator cultures, metabolic activation system, control of the background of spontaneous mutation, etc.

Conclusion. The discussed practical issues can be useful for specialists from research laboratories planning to introduce this method into practice.

Introduction. The study of the potential negative effects of combinations of several pesticide active ingredients is an important and understudied area of ​​toxicological and hygienic research. The initial phase of the genotoxicant action on the genetic structures in cells is the primary DNA damage, the identification of which makes it possible to assess the early stages of the genotoxic effect of xenobiotics and their mixtures. The DNA comet assay is widely used for these purposes.

The aim of the research is to assess the primary DNA damage under the combined action of pesticides.

Materials and methods. To assess DNA damage the experiments on CD-1 mice of both sexes were performed using alkaline comet analysis. The concentration of active products reacting with thiobarbituric acid (TBA) in the blood serum of white outbred rats was assessed as a marker of lipid peroxidation.

Results. It was found that mixtures of 2,4-D-acid + glyphosate and thiram + carbendazim did not cause the formation of breaks and alkali-labile sites in the DNA of mice bone marrow cells. Exposure to the combination of the technical grade active ingredients captan and fludioxonil induced the breaks and alkali-labile sites in the DNA of animal bone marrow cells. The comparison of the genotoxicity assessment results obtained by the comet assay and results of analysis of the TBA-active product concentrations in the rat blood serum suggests that the observed primary DNA damage upon exposure to the captan and fludioxonil combination can be mediated by the induction of lipid peroxidation and subsequent interaction of the resulting products with nucleic acids.

Conclusion. The results indicate that some pesticides in combination can damage hereditary material in mammalian cells. Therefore, in order to ensure the safe use of pesticides for public health it is necessary to take into account the data on the genotoxicity not only of individual pesticide technical grade active ingredients but also their combinations.

Introduction. In recent years, due to the stricter requirements for compliance with the provisions of the Rotterdam Convention, the volume of export notifications on the permission to import dangerous chemicals into the Russian Federation has increased significantly. Therefore, the purpose of our research was to analyze the nomenclature, volume, toxicity and danger of industrial chemicals and pesticides entering the Russian market, despite prohibitions or restrictions on their use at the international and national levels.

Material and methods. The materials used are applications for the import of chemical products (export notifications) of the National Designated authorities of the European Union, China, Great Britain, 

Serbia to the Russian Register of Potentially Hazardous Chemical and Biological Substances — a branch of F.F. Erisman Federal Scientific Center of Hygiene – in the period from 2018 to 2020. The year 2019 was considered in the most detail.

Results and discussion. The analysis of applications showed an ever-increasing number of chemical supplies; for example, 130 notifications were received in 2018, 539 in 2019, and 565 in 2020.

In 2019, the number of tin compounds prevailed in the nomenclature of imported products to the territory of the Russian Federation. As for the substances from Annex III of the Rotterdam Convention, most of the imported chemicals by tonnage were substances included in this document — 1,2-dibromoethane (EDB), carbofuran, ethylene oxide, ethylene dichloride (1,2-dichloroethane), which are imported for industrial use, and not for use as pesticides, as they are declared in the convention.

Chemicals and pesticides imported into the country under the PIC procedure, with the exception of numerous derivatives of dibutyl - and dioctyltin, creosote, have an established hygienic standard in at least one human habitat. In most cases, they are assigned to hazard classes 1 and 2 according to the maximum allowable concentration.

Conclusion. Chemical products that are highly dangerous for human health and the environment, which are banned or severely restricted in many states, caused specific and long-term effects on the body, and having high toxicity to natural biota are used in the Russian Federation economy. In this regard, there is a need to develop regulatory decisions at the national level and within the framework of the Eurasian Economic Commission on the prohibition or restriction of the circulation of substances and pesticides characterized by an unacceptable risk of exposure.

Introduction. In the direction of normative and methodological assurance of the safety of environmental objects and imported food products, analytical approaches to the determination of a fungicide of the quinone class - dithianone in the ambient air and citrus fruits were optimized.

Materials and methods. Measurements were performed by tandem liquid mass spectrometry with a triple quadrupole mass detector (HPLC-MS/MS) in multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode using electrostatic spray as the ionization source. The substance from the air was concentrated on Tenax TA sorption tubes based on a porous polymer sorbent, followed by extraction of dithianone from the tubes with acetone. The preparation of samples of citrus fruits was carried out by extraction of acidified acetonitrile (selected optimal pH 2) in the presence of salts of magnesium sulfate, sodium chloride and sodium citrate two- and three-substituted, followed by centrifugation and filtration of the extract through disposable syringe membrane filters (QuEChERS technology).

Results. The developed techniques were tested on real samples using the pesticide in agricultural practice. The revealed levels of dithianon do not exceed the lower limit of quantitative determination: 0.000071 mg/m³ in ambient air (with a tentative safe exposure levels value of 0.0001 mg/m³) and 0.01 mg/kg in citrus fruits (with an established MRL value of 3 mg/kg).

Conclusion. The developed methods are approved as official documents and supplement the base of analytical methods in terms of control of atmospheric air and imported food products.

Introduction. Chemical, physical or biological factors that can cause the formation and expansion of cancer cells are diverse in terms of both activity and mechanisms of action, which leads to the complexity of assessing the risk of developing malignant neoplasms.

The aim. Discussion of the carcinogene classification based on their ability to interact with cell DNA and possible mechanisms of genetic control of carcinogenesis processes induced by non-genotoxic carcinogens.

The article draws attention to some controversial points related to the attribution of factors affecting an organism to genotoxic or non-genotoxic carcinogens. The terminology used in the literature to describe genotoxic (mutagenic) and carcinogenic factors is presented. The mechanisms of action of non-genotoxic carcinogens are discussed. The important role of experts determining the hazard to public health of factors with potential genotoxicity and carcinogenicity is noted.

Conclusion. Non-genotoxic carcinogens are capable of inducing malignant growth through mechanisms not associated with direct damage to genetic structures in the cell. However, the realization of carcinogenic effects caused by such factors is determined by various mechanisms of genetic control.

Московский ордена Трудового Красного Знамени научно-исследовательский институт гигиены им. Ф.Ф. Эрисмана сформировался на базе Московской город­ской санитарной станции, создателем которой в 1891 г. был один из основоположников отечественной гигиены Фёдор Фёдорович Эрисман.