Papers by Fiorella Belpoggi
International journal of occupational and environmental health, Jan 29, 2016
Sucralose is an organochlorine artificial sweetener approximately 600 times sweeter than sucrose ... more Sucralose is an organochlorine artificial sweetener approximately 600 times sweeter than sucrose and used in over 4,500 products. Long-term carcinogenicity bioassays on rats and mice conducted on behalf of the manufacturer have failed to show the evidence of carcinogenic effects. The aim of this study was to evaluate the carcinogenic effect of sucralose in mice, using a sensitive experimental design. Five groups of male (total n = 457) and five groups female (total n = 396) Swiss mice were treated from 12 days of gestation through the lifespan with sucralose in their feed at concentrations of 0, 500, 2,000, 8,000, and 16,000 ppm. We found a significant dose-related increased incidence of males bearing malignant tumors (p < 0.05) and a significant dose-related increased incidence…
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 2006
In the present article we assessed exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in Italian... more In the present article we assessed exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in Italian asphalt workers (AW, n = 100), exposed to bitumen fumes and diesel exhausts, and in roadside construction workers (CW, n = 47), exposed to diesel exhausts, by means of environmental and biological monitoring. 1-Hydroxypyrene (OH-Py) was determined in urine spot samples collected, respectively, after 2 days of vacation (baseline), before, and at the end of the monitored work shift, in the second part of the workweek. Median airborne levels during the work shift of 15 PAHs (both vapor and particulate phases), from naphthalene (NAP) to indeno(1,2,3-cd)pyrene, ranged from below 0.03 to 426 ng/m 3. Median excretion values of OH-Py in baseline, before-and endshift samples were 228, 402, and 690 ng/L for AW and 260, 304, and 378 ng/L for CW. Lower values were found in nonsmokers compared to smokers (e.g., in AW 565 and 781 versus 252 and 506 ng/L in before-shift and end-shift samples, respectively). In all subjects a weak correlation between personal exposure to the sum of airborne 15 PAHs and OH-Py was observed (r = 0.30). The results of this article show that AW experienced a moderate occupational exposure to airborne PAHs, resulting in a significant increase of urinary OH-Py during the workday and the workweek. The contribution of working activities to internal dose was in the same order of magnitude of the contribution of cigarette smoking.
European Journal of Oncology, Sep 1, 2008
schwannomas Acknowledgements: A special thanks to the US National Toxicology Program (NTP) for co... more schwannomas Acknowledgements: A special thanks to the US National Toxicology Program (NTP) for convening a group of pathologists at NIEHS in order to provide a second opinion for a set of lesions of malignancies and their precursors related to the APM treatment, and for the help in statistical analysis. A special thanks also to all the staff who were involved in the project. This research was entirely supported by European Ramazzini Foundation of Oncology and Environmental Sciences, Bologna, Italy. Authors do not have competing financial interests in relation to the submitted article. Abbreviations: ADI: APM:
Aspartame (APM) is an artificial sweetener used since the 1980s, now present in>6,000 products... more Aspartame (APM) is an artificial sweetener used since the 1980s, now present in>6,000 products, including over 500 pharmaceuticals. Since its discovery in 1965, and its first approval by the US Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) in 1981, the safety of APM, and in particular its carcinogenicity potential, has been controversial. The present commentary reviews the adequacy of the design and conduct of carcinogenicity bioassays on rodents submitted by G.D. Searle, in the 1970s, to the FDA for market approval. We also review how experimental and epidemiological data on the carcinogenic risks of APM, that became available in 2005 motivated the European Commission (EC) to call the European Food and Safety Authority (EFSA) for urgent re-examination of the available scientific documentation (including the Searle studies). The EC has further requested that, if the results of the evaluation should suggest carcinogenicity, major changes must be made to the current APM specific regulations....
a long-term bioassay on aspartame (APM), a widely used artificial sweetener. APM was administered... more a long-term bioassay on aspartame (APM), a widely used artificial sweetener. APM was administered with feed to 8-week-old Sprague-Dawley rats (100–150/sex/group), at concentrations of 100,000, 50,000, 10,000, 2,000, 400, 80, or 0 ppm. The treatment lasted until natural death, at which time all deceased animals underwent complete necropsy. Histopathologic evaluation of all pathologic lesions and of all organs and tissues collected was routinely performed on each animal of all experimental groups. The results of the study show for the first time that APM, in our experimental conditions, causes a) an increased incidence of malignant-tumor–bearing animals with a positive significant trend in males (p ≤ 0.05) and in females (p ≤ 0.01), in particular those females treated at 50,000 ppm (p ≤ 0.01); b) an increase in lymphomas and leukemias with a positive significant trend in both males (p ≤ 0.05) and females (p ≤ 0.01), in particular in females treated at doses of 100,000 (p ≤ 0.01), 50,0...
bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory), Nov 19, 2021
The potential health consequences of glyphosate-induced gut microbiome alterations have become a ... more The potential health consequences of glyphosate-induced gut microbiome alterations have become a matter of intense debate. As part of a multifaceted study investigating toxicity, carcinogenicity and multigenerational effects of glyphosate and its commercial herbicide formulations, we assessed changes in bacterial and fungal populations in the caecum microbiota of rats exposed prenatally until adulthood (13 weeks after weaning) to three doses of glyphosate (0.5, 5, 50 mg/kg body weight/day), or to the formulated herbicide products Roundup Bioflow and RangerPro at the same glyphosate-equivalent doses. Caecum bacterial microbiota were evaluated by 16S rRNA sequencing whilst the fungal population was determined by ITS2 amplicon sequencing. Results showed that both fungal and bacterial diversity were affected by the Roundup formulations in a dose-dependent manner, whilst glyphosate alone significantly altered only bacterial diversity. At taxa level, a reduction in Bacteroidota abundance, marked by alterations in the levels of Alloprevotella, Prevotella and Prevotellaceae UCG-003, was concomitant to increased levels of Firmicutes (e.g., Romboutsia, Dubosiella, Eubacterium brachy group or Christensenellaceae) and Actinobacteria (e.g., Enterorhabdus, Adlercreutzia, or Asaccharobacter). Treponema and Mycoplasma also had their levels reduced by the pesticide treatments. Analysis of fungal composition indicated that the abundance of the rat gut commensal Ascomycota Kazachstania was reduced while the abundance of Gibberella, Penicillium, Claviceps, Cornuvesica, Candida, Trichoderma and Sarocladium were increased by exposure to the Roundup formulations, but not to glyphosate. Altogether, our data suggest that glyphosate and its Roundup RangerPro and Bioflow caused profound changes in caecum microbiome composition by affecting the fitness of major commensals, which in turn reduced competition and allowed opportunistic fungi to grow in the gut, in particular in animals exposed to the herbicide formulations. This further indicates that changes in gut microbiome composition might influence the long-term toxicity, carcinogenicity and multigenerational effects of glyphosate-based herbicides.
Figure S5. Effects of glyphosate or Roundup Bioflow exposure on hormones in females (meanâ Âąâ SE... more Figure S5. Effects of glyphosate or Roundup Bioflow exposure on hormones in females (meanâ Âąâ SEM); coefficient of variation in square brackets. (DOCX 23 kb)
Figure S1. AGD index and AGD (Mean per litter) box plot (A) and dot plot (B). (DOCX 83 kb)
A total of 17 cases of pleural mesothelioma were ascertained in the town of Biancavilla (Sicily, ... more A total of 17 cases of pleural mesothelioma were ascertained in the town of Biancavilla (Sicily, Italy), on the southwest slopes of the volcano Etna, from 1980 to 1997. Occupational exposure to asbestos was considered possible in only 2 of them, though it could not be excluded in 5 other cases: for the remaining 10 cases the hypothesis of environmental exposure was deemed reasonable. On the basis of this evaluation, a mineralogic study was started in the area of Biancavilla, where incohesive volcanic material has largely been used in the building industry and road paving since the 1960s-1970s. This study led to the identification of the new fluoro-edenite amphibole with prismatic, acicular and fibrous asbestiform morphologies. With a view to acquiring more detailed information on the possible causal relationship between exposure to this mineral and the onset of mesotheliomas, the mineral was tested, by a single intraperitoneal or intrapleural injection, on groups of 80 Sprague-Dawley rats (40 males and 40 females) (fibrous fluoroedenite) and on a group of 30 rats (15 males and 15 females) (powdered prismatic fluoro-edenite), 8 weeks old at the start of the study, at a dose of 25 mg in 1 cc of water; 1 cc of water was administered by intraperitoneal injection to 80 rats (controls). One hundred and nine weeks after the treatment, a high incidence of peritoneal and, to a lesser extent, pleural mesotheliomas was observed in the animals treated with fibrous fluoroedenite; this incidence is comparable to that obtained with various kinds of asbestos. Up to now no cases of mesothelioma have been observed in the group treated with prismatic fluoro-edenite, or in the control group. Eur.
Lancet Oncology, Jun 1, 2019
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, Dec 1, 1997
Four groups, each of 50 male and 50 female Sprague-Dawley rats, of the colony used in the Cancer ... more Four groups, each of 50 male and 50 female Sprague-Dawley rats, of the colony used in the Cancer Research Center of Bentivoglio of the Ramazzini Foundation, 12 weeks old at the start of the study, received drinking water containing sodium hypochlorite, resulting in concentrations of active chlorine of 750, 500, and 100 mg/l (treated groups), and tap water (active chlorine &lt; 0.2 mg/l) (control group), respectively, for 104 weeks. Among the female rats of the treated groups, an increased incidence of lymphomas and leukemias has been observed, although this is not clearly dose related. Moreover, sporadic cases of some tumors, the occurrence of which is extremely unusual among the untreated rats of the colony used (historical controls), were detected in chlorine-exposed animals. The results of this study confirm the results of the experiment of the United States National Toxicology Program (1991), which showed an increase of leukemia among female Fischer 344/N rats following the administration of chlorine (in the form of sodium hypochlorite and chloramine) in their drinking water. The data here presented call for further research aimed at quantifying the oncogenic risks related to the chlorination of drinking water, to be used as a basis for consequent public health measures.
PLOS ONE, Jul 28, 2016
The consequences of ubiquitous exposure to environmental chemicals remain poorly defined. Non-tar... more The consequences of ubiquitous exposure to environmental chemicals remain poorly defined. Non-targeted metabolomic profiling is an emerging method to identify biomarkers of the physiological response to such exposures. We investigated the effect of three commonly used ingredients in personal care products, diethyl phthalate (DEP), methylparaben (MPB) and triclosan (TCS), on the blood metabolome of female Sprague-Dawley rats. Animals were treated with low levels of these chemicals comparable to human exposures during prepubertal and pubertal windows as well as chronically from birth to adulthood. Nontargeted metabolomic profiling revealed that most of the variation in the metabolites was associated with developmental stage. The low-dose exposure to DEP, MPB and TCS had a relatively small, but detectable impact on the metabolome. Multiple metabolites that were affected by chemical exposure belonged to the same biochemical pathways including phenol sulfonation and metabolism of pyruvate, lyso-plasmalogens, unsaturated fatty acids and serotonin. Changes in phenol sulfonation and pyruvate metabolism were most pronounced in rats exposed to DEP during the prepubertal period. Our metabolomics analysis demonstrates that human level exposure to personal care product ingredients has detectable effects on the rat metabolome. We highlight specific pathways such as sulfonation that warrant further study.
Scientific Reports, Feb 5, 2021
Glyphosate-based herbicides (GBHs) can disrupt the host microbiota and influence human health. In... more Glyphosate-based herbicides (GBHs) can disrupt the host microbiota and influence human health. In this study, we explored the potential effects of GBHs on urinary metabolites and their interactions with gut microbiome using a rodent model. Glyphosate and Roundup (equal molar for glyphosate) were administered at the USA glyphosate ADI guideline (1.75 mg/kg bw/day) to the dams and their pups. The urine metabolites were profiled using non-targeted liquid chromatography-high resolution mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS). Our results found that overall urine metabolite profiles significantly differed between dams and pups and between female and male pups. Specifically, we identified a significant increase of homocysteine, a known risk factor of cardiovascular disease in both Roundup and glyphosate exposed pups, but in males only. Correlation network analysis between gut microbiome and urine metabolome pointed to Prevotella to be negatively correlated with the level of homocysteine. Our study provides initial evidence that exposures to commonly used GBH, at a currently acceptable human exposure dose, is capable of modifying urine metabolites in both rat adults and pups. The link between Prevotella-homocysteine suggests the potential role of GBHs in modifying the susceptibility of homocysteine, which is a metabolite that has been dysregulated in related diseases like cardiovascular disease or inflammation, through commensal microbiome. Glyphosate-based herbicides (GBHs), such as Roundup, are currently the most widely used herbicides in the world. GBHs are complex proprietary mixtures, with glyphosate as the main active ingredient. Since glyphosate was first produced in 1974 approximately 9.4 million tons of GBHs have been sprayed globally, nearly half a pound of glyphosate on every cultivated acre of land 1. After the introduction of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in 1996, in particular, glyphosate resistant crops, the global usage of GBHs has been increasing exponentially with about two-thirds of the total GBHs (by mass) sprayed in just the last decade. Besides GMO application, GBHs are also applied on non-GMO crops as desiccant in order to dry down crops and accelerate the harvest 2. This practice further increases dietary exposure to glyphosate and its major metabolite aminomethylphosphonic acid (AMPA) 3. Glyphosate mode of action is the inhibition of 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase (EPSPS), involved in the synthesis of three aromatic amino acids: tyrosine, tryptophan, and phenylalanine 4. As this shikimate pathway only exists in bacteria, fungi, and plants, but not in vertebrates, glyphosate was thought to impose minimal risks to mammals including humans. However, current emerging evidence suggests that glyphosate or GBH such as Roundup, can adversely affect mammalian biology via multiple mechanisms 5-8. Several studies have also suggested the possible link between GBHs exposure and abnormality in neurodevelopment 9,10. Among those mechanisms, it has been reported that GBHs exposure can alter the microbiota in honeybees, rats
New York Academy of Sciences eBooks, 1999
This report refers to a case of peritoneal mesothelioma arising in an insulation worker. The late... more This report refers to a case of peritoneal mesothelioma arising in an insulation worker. The latency time, i.e. the period elapsing between the start of exposure and the onset of the early symptoms and signs of the neoplasia, was 52 years. This is the first case of a series of 7 cases which underwent to our observation through the Surgery Unit of the Bentivoglio Hospital, Bologna, Italy, where they were treated with cytoreductive surgery and intraoperative chemohyperthermia (HIPEC). Scanning electron microscopy photographs of the neoplastic tissue confirm the correlation of the neoplasia with the exposure to asbestos, through the observation of spheric and fibrous matter in the neoplasia, probably chrysotile.
Environmental Research, Jun 1, 2021
American Journal of Industrial Medicine, Mar 14, 2018
Mineralogical Society of Great Britain & Ireland eBooks, Jan 7, 2017
This report illustrates the project of long-term experimental studies on the gasoline oxygenated ... more This report illustrates the project of long-term experimental studies on the gasoline oxygenated additives and of gasoline containing several of the same oxygenates, performed by the Cancer Research Centre (CRC) of the European Ramazzini Foundation of Oncology and Environmental Sciences (RF). The compounds and mixtures studied by this project are: methyl alcohol, ethyl alcohol, methyl-tertiary-butyl ether (MTBE), ethyl-tertiary-butyl ether (ETBE), tert-amyl-methyl ether (TAME) and di-isopropyl ether (DIPE), as well as gasoline containing methyl alcohol, ethyl alcohol, MTBE and ETBE. All experiments were performed on Sprague-Dawley rats from the CRC/RF colony, exposed to test materials by ingestion (stomach intubation in extra virgin olive oil solution, or in drinking water) and kept under control until spontaneous death. The report also presents the first results of the study on ETBE. The compound was administered to groups of 120 rats (60 males and 60 females) at a daily dose of 1000, 250, and 0 (in olive oil) mg/kg b.w., for 4 days weekly, over 104 weeks. In the tested experimental conditions ETBE causes an increase in: 1) total malignant tumours (more evident in females); 2) total oncological lesions of the mouth (more evident among males); 3) total oncological lesions of the forestomach
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Papers by Fiorella Belpoggi