engleski

The exposure of healthy population of Croatia to ochratoxin A in one year period

Objectives: Ochratoxin A (OTA) is nephrotoxic and carcinogen secondary metabolite of some species of Penicillium and Aspergillus moulds. The aim of this study was to assess the variability of healthy population exposure to OTA in one year period, to calculate and compare the mean daily intake (DI) with tolerable daily intake (TDI) for OTA suggested by WHO. Methods: Samples (5 ml) of plasma were collected by fifty from healthy volunteers in five cities of Croatia (Zagreb, Varaždin, Osijek, Rijeka, and Split) in March, June, September and December, and kept at -80 0C until analysed. Samples were purified, OTA extracted, and analysed with high performance liquid chromatography (detection limit 0.2 ng OTA/ml plasma). The presence of OTA was confirmed by its derivatization to methyl ester. The concentration of OTA was calculated from standard curves of OTA. Mean DI of OTA was calculated from the mean concentration of analysed samples. Results: Ochratoxin A (>0.2 ng/ml) was found in plasma of volunteers from all Croatian cities collected in each season. The highest frequency of samples with OTA concentration >1.0 ng/ml (18 %) and the highest mean concentration (0.68 ng/ml) were found in June in Osijek. Osijek was also the city with the highest concentration of OTA in samples collected in the whole year (0.56 ng/ml). June was the collecting period when the mean concentration of OTA in all cities was the highest. The mean daily intake, calculated from the mean concentration in plasma of all samples (0.3 ng OTA/ml) is 0.4 ng/kg b.w./day, which is much lower than TDI suggested by WHO (16.0 ng OTA/kg b.w.). Conclusions: The exposure of people in Croatia to OTA is low, but variable in different cities and in different seasons.

ochratoxin A; healthy population; Croatia

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