Verification of exposure to chemical warfare agents through analysis of persistent biomarkers in plants

The continuing threats of military conflicts and terrorism may involve the misuse of chemical weapons. The present study aims to use environmental samples to find evidence of the release of such agents at an incident scene. A novel approach was developed for identifying protein adducts in plants. Basil (Ocimum basilicum), bay laurel leaf (Laurus...

Mass spectrometric analysis of adducts of sulfur mustard analogues to human plasma proteins: approach towards chemical provenancing in biomedical samples

The primary aim of this study was to identify biomarkers of exposure to some so-called Schedule 1 sulfur mustard (HD) analogues, in order to facilitate and expedite their retrospective analysis in case of alleged use of such compounds. Since these HD analogues can be regarded as model compounds for possible impurities of HD formed during...

Fatal sarin poisoning in Syria 2013: forensic verification within an international laboratory network

During the United Nations fact-finding mission to investigate the alleged use of chemical warfare agents in the Syrian Arab Republic in 2013, numerous tissues from a deceased female victim, who had displayed symptoms of cholinergic crisis, were collected. The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) authorized two specialized...

Covalent binding of organophosphorothioates to albumin: A new perspective for OP-pesticide biomonitoring?

We here report on the covalent binding of various organophosphorothioate (OPT) pesticides to albumin at in vitro exposure levels that did not give rise to butyrylcholinesterase inhibition. Adduct formation occurred at the Tyr-411 residue of albumin, as was firmly corroborated by LC-tandem MS analysis of a pepsin digest of OPT-modified albumin....

Protein adduct formation by glucuronide metabolites of permethrin

Biomonitoring of exposure to the insecticide permethrin is usually performed by analysis of its urinary metabolites 3-phenoxybenzoic acid (3-PBA) or cis/trans-3-(2,2-dichlorovinyl)-2,2-dimethylcyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (Cl2CA). We are engaged in the development of a methodology to assess the cumulative internal dose of exposure to...

Biomonitoring of exposure to chemical warfare agents

An overview is presented of the major methods that are presently available for biomonitoring of exposure to chemical warfare agents, i.e., nerve agents and sulfur mustard. These methods can be applied for a variety of purposes such as diagnosis and dosimetry of exposure of casualties, verification of nonadherence to the Chemical Weapon...

Formation of transient covalent protein and DNA adducts by quercetin in cells with and without oxidative enzyme activity

This study investigates the role of cellular tyrosinase and/or peroxidase-like oxidative enzyme activity in the covalent binding of quercetin to glutathione, protein, and DNA, as well as the stability of quercetin DNA adducts in time. This was done by studying the formation of glutathionyl quercetin adducts in various in vitro models, and the...