Oxidative damage mediated by herbicides on yeast cells

Agricultural herbicides are among the most commonly used pesticides worldwide, posing serious concerns for both humans, exposed to these chemicals through many routes, and the environment. To clarify the effects of three herbicides as commercial formulations (namely, Pointer, Silglif, and Proper Energy), parameters related to oxidative issues were investigated on an autochthonous wine yeast strain. It was demonstrated that herbicides were able to affect the enzymatic activities of catalase and superoxide dismutase, as well as to induce carbonylation and thiol oxidation as post-translational modifications of proteins. Saccharomyces cerevisiae is an optimal model system to study responses to xenobiotics and oxidative stress. Thus, the results obtained could further the understanding of mechanisms underlying the toxicity of herbicides.     

Impacts of wood extraction on soil: assessing rutting and soil compaction caused by skidding and forwarding by means of traditional and innovative methods

European Journal of Forest Research - Intensive forestry operations may cause soil compaction, plastic soil disturbances and rutting, which are responsible for undesirable effects on soils,...     

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) detection in food samples using an electrochemical immunosensor

In this work, a disposable electrochemical immunosensor, based on a competitive assay scheme, was applied to detect polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in food. For this purpose, antibodies against PCBs were directly immobilized onto the carbon surface of a disposable screen-printed electrode. A competition between the PCBs present in the sample and a fixed concentration of an enzyme-labeled PCB was realized and evaluated by electrochemical detection. Alkaline phosphatase was used as the enzyme label, coupled with differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) as the electrochemical technique. The immunosensor was tested on aroclor mixture detection (1242 and 1248) and then on some typologies of food samples to evaluate the possible application for real sample analysis. Samples analyzed were from different matrixes, such as sheep milk, bovine adipose tissue, and bovine muscle. Results obtained were compared with the accredited results according to ISO 17025 methods for PCB detection (HRGC-LRMS) as a confirmatory analysis. Preliminary results show the possibility to use this device as a screening method in food sample analysis. The negligible matrix effect observed may lead to a simplified extraction procedure, and considerable time and consumable savings are the immediate benefits given by the proposed method.