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Chen Y, Liu J, Song T, Zou X, Li L, Nie Q, Zhang P. Gaps in forensic toxicological analysis: The veiled abrin. Toxicon 2024; 242:107684. [PMID: 38513827 DOI: 10.1016/j.toxicon.2024.107684] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/24/2023] [Revised: 03/07/2024] [Accepted: 03/08/2024] [Indexed: 03/23/2024]
Abstract
Abrus precatorius is an herbaceous, flowering plant that is widely distributed in tropical and subtropical regions. Its toxic component, known as abrin, is classified as one of the potentially significant biological warfare agents and bioterrorism tools due to its high toxicity. Abrin poisoning can be utilized to cause accidents, suicides, and homicides, which necessitates attention from clinicians and forensic scientists. Although a few studies have recently identified the toxicological and pharmacological mechanisms of abrin, the exact mechanism remains unclear. Furthermore, the clinical symptoms and pathological changes induced by abrin poisoning have not been fully characterized, and there is a lack of standardized methods for identifying biological samples of the toxin. Therefore, there is an urgent need for further toxicopathologic studies and the development of detection methods for abrin in the field of forensic medicine. This review provides an overview of the clinical symptoms, pathological changes, metabolic changes, toxicologic mechanisms, and detection methods of abrin poisoning from the perspective of forensic toxicology. Additionally, the evidence on abrin in the field of forensic toxicology and forensic pathology is discussed. Overall, this review serves as a reference for understanding the toxicological mechanism of abrin, highlighting the clinical applications of the toxin, and aiding in the diagnosis and forensic identification of toxin poisoning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yinyu Chen
- Department of Forensic Medicine, Hainan Provincial Academician Workstation (tropical forensic medicine), Hainan Provincial Tropical Forensic Engineering Research Center, Hainan Medical University, Haikou, 571199, China
| | - Jiaqi Liu
- Department of Neurology, the First Affiliated Hospital, International School of Public Health and One Health, Hainan Medical University, Haikou, 570102, China
| | - Tao Song
- Department of Forensic Medicine, Hainan Provincial Academician Workstation (tropical forensic medicine), Hainan Provincial Tropical Forensic Engineering Research Center, Hainan Medical University, Haikou, 571199, China
| | - Xing Zou
- Department of Forensic Medicine, Hainan Provincial Academician Workstation (tropical forensic medicine), Hainan Provincial Tropical Forensic Engineering Research Center, Hainan Medical University, Haikou, 571199, China
| | - Leilei Li
- Department of Forensic Medicine, Hainan Provincial Academician Workstation (tropical forensic medicine), Hainan Provincial Tropical Forensic Engineering Research Center, Hainan Medical University, Haikou, 571199, China
| | - Qianyun Nie
- Department of Pathology, School of Basic Medicine and Life Sciences, Hainan Medical University, Haikou, 571199, China; Department of Pathology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Hainan Medical University, Haikou, 570102, China.
| | - Peng Zhang
- Department of Forensic Medicine, Hainan Provincial Academician Workstation (tropical forensic medicine), Hainan Provincial Tropical Forensic Engineering Research Center, Hainan Medical University, Haikou, 571199, China.
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Qian H, Wang L, Li Y, Wang B, Li C, Fang L, Tang L. The traditional uses, phytochemistry and pharmacology of Abrus precatorius L.: A comprehensive review. J Ethnopharmacol 2022; 296:115463. [PMID: 35714881 DOI: 10.1016/j.jep.2022.115463] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/22/2022] [Revised: 05/30/2022] [Accepted: 06/12/2022] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE Abrus precatorius L. (AP) is a folk medicine with a long-term medicinal history worldwide, which is extensively applied to various ailments, such as bronchitis, jaundice, hepatitis, contraception, tumor, abortion, malaria, etc. Meanwhile, its leaves are also served as tea in China, and its roots are employed as a substitute for Glycyrrhiza uralensis or as a raw material for the extraction of glycyrrhizin in India. Thus, AP is considered to be a plant with dual values of medicine and economy as well as its chemical composition and biological activity, which are of growing interest to the scientific community. AIM OF REVIEW In the review, the traditional application, botany, chemical constituents, pharmacological activities, and toxicity are comprehensively and systematically summarized. MATERIALS AND METHODS An extensive database retrieval was conducted to gather the specific information about AP from 1871 to 2022 using online bibliographic databases Web of Science, PubMed, SciFinder, Google Scholar, CNKI, and Baidu Scholar. The search terms comprise the keywords "Abrus precatorius", "phytochemistry", "pharmacological activity", "toxicity" and "traditional application" as a combination. RESULTS To date, AP is traditionally used to treat various diseases, including sore throat, cough, bronchitis, jaundice, hepatitis, abdominal pain, contraception, tumor, abortion, malaria, and so on. More than 166 chemical compounds have been identified from AP, which primarily cover flavonoids, phenolics, terpenoids, steroids, alkaloids, organic acids, esters, proteins, polysaccharides, and so on. A wide range of in vitro and in vivo pharmacological functions of AP have been reported, such as antitumor, antimicrobial, insecticidal, antiprotozoal, antiparasitic, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, immunomodulatory, antifertility, antidiabetic, other pharmacological activities. The crushed seeds in powder or paste form were comparatively toxic to humans and animals by oral administration. Interestingly, the methanolic extracts were non-toxic to adult Wistar albino rats at various doses (200 and 400 mg/kg) daily. CONCLUSIONS The review focuses on the traditional application, botany, phytochemistry, pharmacological activities, and toxicity of AP, which offers a valuable context for researchers on the current research status and a reference for further research and applications of this medicinal plant.
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Affiliation(s)
- Huiqin Qian
- College of Pharmacy, Sanquan College of Xinxiang Medical University, Xinxiang, 453000, China.
| | - Lu Wang
- College of Pharmacy, Sanquan College of Xinxiang Medical University, Xinxiang, 453000, China
| | - Yanling Li
- College of Pharmacy, Sanquan College of Xinxiang Medical University, Xinxiang, 453000, China
| | - Bailing Wang
- College of Pharmacy, Hubei University of Medicine, Shiyan, 442000, Hubei, China
| | - Chunyan Li
- College of Pharmacy, Sanquan College of Xinxiang Medical University, Xinxiang, 453000, China
| | - Like Fang
- College of Pharmacy, Sanquan College of Xinxiang Medical University, Xinxiang, 453000, China
| | - Lijie Tang
- College of Pharmacy, Sanquan College of Xinxiang Medical University, Xinxiang, 453000, China
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Bai X, Hu C, Chen L, Wang J, Li Y, Wan W, Jin Z, Li Y, Xin W, Kang L, Jin H, Yang H, Wang J, Gao S. A Self-Driven Microfluidic Chip for Ricin and Abrin Detection. Sensors (Basel) 2022; 22:s22093461. [PMID: 35591151 PMCID: PMC9101213 DOI: 10.3390/s22093461] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/28/2022] [Revised: 04/17/2022] [Accepted: 04/28/2022] [Indexed: 12/02/2022]
Abstract
Ricin and abrin are phytotoxins that can be easily used as biowarfare and bioterrorism agents. Therefore, developing a rapid detection method for both toxins is of great significance in the field of biosecurity. In this study, a novel nanoforest silicon microstructure was prepared by the micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) technique; particularly, a novel microfluidic sensor chip with a capillary self-driven function and large surface area was designed. Through binding with the double antibodies sandwich immunoassay, the proposed sensor chip is confirmed to be a candidate for sensing the aforementioned toxins. Compared with conventional immunochromatographic test strips, the proposed sensor demonstrates significantly enhanced sensitivity (≤10 pg/mL for both toxins) and high specificity against the interference derived from juice or milk, while maintaining good linearity in the range of 10–6250 pg/mL. Owing to the silicon nanoforest microstructure and improved homogeneity of the color signal, short detection time (within 15 min) is evidenced for the sensor chip, which would be helpful for the rapid tracking of ricin and abrin for the field of biosecurity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xuexin Bai
- State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, Academy of Military Medical Sciences, Beijing 100071, China
- School of Basic Medical Sciences, Anhui Medical University, Hefei 230032, China
| | - Chenyi Hu
- State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, Academy of Military Medical Sciences, Beijing 100071, China
| | - Liang Chen
- State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, Academy of Military Medical Sciences, Beijing 100071, China
| | - Jing Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, Academy of Military Medical Sciences, Beijing 100071, China
| | - Yanwei Li
- State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, Academy of Military Medical Sciences, Beijing 100071, China
| | - Wei Wan
- State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, Academy of Military Medical Sciences, Beijing 100071, China
| | - Zhiying Jin
- State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, Academy of Military Medical Sciences, Beijing 100071, China
| | - Yue Li
- State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, Academy of Military Medical Sciences, Beijing 100071, China
| | - Wenwen Xin
- State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, Academy of Military Medical Sciences, Beijing 100071, China
| | - Lin Kang
- State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, Academy of Military Medical Sciences, Beijing 100071, China
| | - Han Jin
- Institute of Micro-Nano Science and Technology, School of Electronic Information and Electrical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China
| | - Hao Yang
- State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, Academy of Military Medical Sciences, Beijing 100071, China
| | - Jinglin Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, Academy of Military Medical Sciences, Beijing 100071, China
| | - Shan Gao
- State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, Academy of Military Medical Sciences, Beijing 100071, China
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Peng J, Wu J, Shi N, Xu H, Luo L, Wang J, Li X, Xiao H, Feng J, Li X, Chai L, Qiao C. A Novel Humanized Anti-Abrin A Chain Antibody Inhibits Abrin Toxicity In Vitro and In Vivo. Front Immunol 2022; 13:831536. [PMID: 35185923 PMCID: PMC8855095 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2022.831536] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/08/2021] [Accepted: 01/11/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Abrin, a type-II ribosome inactivating protein from the seed of Abrus precatorius, is classified as a Category B bioterrorism warfare agent. Due to its high toxicity, ingestion by animals or humans will lead to death from multiple organ failure. Currently, no effective agents have been reported to treat abrin poisoning. In this study, a novel anti-abrin neutralizing antibody (S008) was humanized using computer-aided design, which possessed lower immunogenicity. Similar to the parent antibody, a mouse anti-abrin monoclonal antibody, S008 possessed high affinity and showed a protective effect against abrin both in vitro and in vivo, and protected mice that S008 was administered 6 hours after abrin. S008 was found that it did not inhibit entry of abrin into cells, suggesting an intracellular blockade capacity against the toxin. In conclusion, this work demonstrates that S008 is a high affinity anti-abrin antibody with both a neutralizing and protective effect and may be an excellent candidate for clinical treatment of abrin poisoning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jingyi Peng
- Joint National Laboratory for Antibody Drug Engineering, The First Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Henan University, Kaifeng, China
- State key Laboratory of Toxicology and Medical Countermeasures, Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Academy of Military Medical Sciences, Academy of Military Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Jiaguo Wu
- State key Laboratory of Toxicology and Medical Countermeasures, Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Academy of Military Medical Sciences, Academy of Military Sciences, Beijing, China
- Department of Anatomy, School of Basic Medical Sciences of Dali University, Dali, China
| | - Ning Shi
- State key Laboratory of Toxicology and Medical Countermeasures, Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Academy of Military Medical Sciences, Academy of Military Sciences, Beijing, China
- Cancer Research Institute, School of Basic Medical Science, Central South University, Changsha, China
| | - Hua Xu
- State key Laboratory of Toxicology and Medical Countermeasures, Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Academy of Military Medical Sciences, Academy of Military Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Longlong Luo
- State key Laboratory of Toxicology and Medical Countermeasures, Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Academy of Military Medical Sciences, Academy of Military Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Jing Wang
- State key Laboratory of Toxicology and Medical Countermeasures, Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Academy of Military Medical Sciences, Academy of Military Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Xinying Li
- State key Laboratory of Toxicology and Medical Countermeasures, Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Academy of Military Medical Sciences, Academy of Military Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - He Xiao
- State key Laboratory of Toxicology and Medical Countermeasures, Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Academy of Military Medical Sciences, Academy of Military Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Jiannan Feng
- State key Laboratory of Toxicology and Medical Countermeasures, Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Academy of Military Medical Sciences, Academy of Military Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Xia Li
- Joint National Laboratory for Antibody Drug Engineering, The First Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Henan University, Kaifeng, China
| | - Lihui Chai
- Joint National Laboratory for Antibody Drug Engineering, The First Affiliated Hospital, School of Medicine, Henan University, Kaifeng, China
- *Correspondence: Lihui Chai, ; Chunxia Qiao,
| | - Chunxia Qiao
- State key Laboratory of Toxicology and Medical Countermeasures, Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Academy of Military Medical Sciences, Academy of Military Sciences, Beijing, China
- School of Pharmacy, Henan University, Kaifeng, China
- *Correspondence: Lihui Chai, ; Chunxia Qiao,
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Janik E, Ceremuga M, Saluk-Bijak J, Bijak M. Biological Toxins as the Potential Tools for Bioterrorism. Int J Mol Sci 2019; 20:E1181. [PMID: 30857127 DOI: 10.3390/ijms20051181] [Citation(s) in RCA: 61] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/03/2019] [Revised: 02/24/2019] [Accepted: 03/03/2019] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Biological toxins are a heterogeneous group produced by living organisms. One dictionary defines them as “Chemicals produced by living organisms that have toxic properties for another organism”. Toxins are very attractive to terrorists for use in acts of bioterrorism. The first reason is that many biological toxins can be obtained very easily. Simple bacterial culturing systems and extraction equipment dedicated to plant toxins are cheap and easily available, and can even be constructed at home. Many toxins affect the nervous systems of mammals by interfering with the transmission of nerve impulses, which gives them their high potential in bioterrorist attacks. Others are responsible for blockage of main cellular metabolism, causing cellular death. Moreover, most toxins act very quickly and are lethal in low doses (LD50 < 25 mg/kg), which are very often lower than chemical warfare agents. For these reasons we decided to prepare this review paper which main aim is to present the high potential of biological toxins as factors of bioterrorism describing the general characteristics, mechanisms of action and treatment of most potent biological toxins. In this paper we focused on six most danger toxins: botulinum toxin, staphylococcal enterotoxins, Clostridium perfringens toxins, ricin, abrin and T-2 toxin. We hope that this paper will help in understanding the problem of availability and potential of biological toxins.
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