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Diseases of the Nervous System
Published in George Feuer, Felix A. de la Iglesia, Molecular Biochemistry of Human Disease, 2020
George Feuer, Felix A. de la Iglesia
Trichloroethylene is a multipurpose solvent and applied in paint and rubber industry as a degreasing agent and in dry cleaning. It acts predominantly on the nervous system.102,208 Acute exposure produces dysfunction of the facial and optic cranial nerves. Recovery is slow and occurs over a period of months. The pathological mechanism of the cranial neuropathy is not established, but probably is connected with demyelination. Chronic exposure results in trigeminal neuropathy, visual disturbances, tremors, and impaired memory. The major effect of hexachlorobenzene is porphyria with neurological impairment.462 Hexachlorophene is neurotoxic.467,471
Drug-Induced Abnormalities of Liver Heme Biosynthesis
Published in Robert G. Meeks, Steadman D. Harrison, Richard J. Bull, Hepatotoxicology, 2020
The causative role of toxic factors, especially chronic alcoholism in human uroporphyria, had been suspected for many years, but the first unequivocal evidence that drugs could be responsible for such condition was the outbreak of human toxic porphyria in Turkey over 30 years ago. In 1956 many cases of cutaneous porphyria were reported with intense photosensitivity, pronounced skin pigmentation and hypertrichosis, liver enlargement, and marked uroporphyrinuria. Several thousand individuals of both sexes, all age groups, and three different ethnic groups were affected (Cam and Nigogosyan, 1963). Poisoning by hexachlorobenzene (HCB) (Figure 8a), a fungicidal agent introduced in bread made from dressed wheat intended for sowing, was suspected as the cause of these disturbances. Animal experiments soon confirmed that HCB could cause a condition of hepatic porphyria when fed to rats and rabbits (Ockner and Schmid, 1961; De Matteis et al., 1961). In both humans and experimental animals the picture of the metabolic disorder, characterized by the preponderance of uroporphyria and other highly carboxylated porphyrins, suggested an impairment of the uro’gen decarboxylation mechanism (De Matteis et al., 1961). Subsequent work has in fact demonstrated marked inhibition of liver uro’gen decarboxylase after treating animals with HCB. The time course of progressive enzyme inhibition in animals given HCB continuously correlates well with time-dependent increase in urinary excretion or liver concentrations of uroporphyrin (Elder, 1978).
The safety and quality of food
Published in Geoffrey P. Webb, Nutrition, 2019
Most experts believe that the residues of agricultural chemicals in foods represent no significant hazard to consumers when current regulations are adhered to and most cases of acute poisoning resulting from the ingestion of agricultural chemical have arisen because of their misuse including the examples listed as follows. Confusion of an agricultural chemical with a common, harmless food ingredient like sugar or salt.Eating of seeds intended for planting and treated with a fungicide. In the late 1950s more than 3000 people in Turkey were affected by hexachlorobenzene poisoning after eating seed grain intended for planting. The symptoms included hair loss, ulcerated skin lesions, liver and thyroid enlargement and there was a 10% mortality rate. This chemical is now officially banned. Agricultural misuse of a chemical. In 1985 in the USA, almost 1400 people became ill after eating watermelons which had been treated with an insecticide called aldicarb, resulting in symptoms that included nausea, diarrhoea, headache, blurred vision and disturbances of balance. Use of this insecticide on watermelons is banned because it is known to become concentrated in the edible part of the fruit.
Manganese mitigates against hepatorenal oxidative stress, inflammation and caspase-3 activation in rats exposed to hexachlorobenzene
Published in Drug and Chemical Toxicology, 2022
Abiola S. Tijani, Olori O. David, Ebenezer O. Farombi
Hexachlorobenzene (HCB) is an organochlorinated benzene industrial chemical commonly produced as by-product in the manufacture of fungicides, pesticides and chlorinated industrial products (Sala et al. 1999, Ballester et al. 2000, Bailey 2001). Although its use has been banned in many countries while in countries where it is used, it is detected in small quantity in food, air and contaminated soil (Wang et al. 2010, ATSDR 2015). Excessive exposure to HCB has been shown to be noxious to non-target species including animals and humans via direct or indirect exposure (Sala et al. 1999, ATSDR 2015). The potential routes of exposure to HCB have been shown to include inhalation, dermal absorption and consumption of HCB contaminated food products. Several pathological conditions including hepatorenal damage, immune dysfunction, genotoxicity, blood, reproductive, neurological, nervous system, dermal, endocrine and lung toxicities in humans and experimental animals (Reed et al. 2007, ATSDR 2015).
Veterinary utility of dried blood spots for detailed analysis of chlorinated pesticides and polychlorinated biphenyls by gas chromatography tandem mass spectrometry
Published in Toxicology Mechanisms and Methods, 2020
Andreas F. Lehner, Lauren Stensen, Alan Zimmerman, Adam Bush, John Buchweitz
Organochlorine pesticides such as aldrin, dieldrin, DDT and its derivatives (4,4′-dichlorodiphenyldichloroethane [4,4′-DDD] and 4,4′-dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene [4,4′-DDE]), lindane, hexachlorobenzene, and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are of particular concern due to their highly bioaccumulative properties and toxicities (Chopra, et al 2011). These chemicals persist in nature, biomagnify in the food web, and impose toxic effects in marine and other organisms (El-Shahawi et al. 2010). The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) has issued recommendations aimed at restricting and eliminating highly dangerous, long-lasting chemicals, and of 21 listed chemicals, 14 are chlorinated pesticides (aldrin, chlordane, chlordecone, DDT, dieldrin, endrin, heptachlor, hexachlorobenzene, lindane and its alpha- and beta-isomers, mirex, pentachlorobenzene and toxaphene), with the remainder including PCBs, polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins, polychlorinated dibenzofurans, polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) and perfluorooctane sulfonyl fluoride (PFOS-F) (Stockholm Convention Factsheet 2011).
Hepatoprotective effects of vitamin E against hexachlorobenzene-induced hepatotoxicity and oxidative stress in rats: histological, biochimical and antioxidant status changes
Published in Toxicology Mechanisms and Methods, 2019
Hela Chalouati, Mohamed Moncef Ben Sâad, Laurence Payrastre
In the recent years, much attention has been focused on the potential of xenobiotic wide range to interact and disrupt the internal system of animal and human population. Among chemicals, organochlorine compounds present a toxicity are toxic due to their long persistence and their ability to accumulate in adipose tissue (IPCS 1997). Hexachlorobenzene (HCB), an organochlorine compound, is a persistent environmental pollutant, currently formed as a byproduct in several industrial processes (Courtney et al. 1979). Because of its chemical stability, its persistence, and a long-range transport it becomes a widespread environmental contaminant (Barber et al. 2005). Indeed, HCB induces a wide variety of toxic effects (carcinogenic, neurotoxic, reproductive and hepatotoxic) in humans and experimental animals (ATSDR 2002).