Micromorphological features and interleukin 6, 8, and 18 expressions in post-mortem lung tissue in cases with acute respiratory distress syndrome

The purpose of this study was to analyze the presence of interleukins 6, 8, and 18 in post-mortem lung tissue of subjects deceased due to polytrauma. In addition to this, we have described different micromorphological features of lung tissue in ARDS cases associated with fatal traffic trauma. A total of 18 autopsy cases with ARDS after polytrauma and 15 control autopsy cases were analyzed in this study. From every subject, we collected one sample for each lung lobe. All of the histological sections were analyzed by using light microscopy, and for the purpose of ultrastructural analysis, we used transmission electron microscopy. Representative sections were further processed by way of immunohistochemistry analysis. Quantification of IL-6, IL-8, and IL-18-positive cells was conducted by applying the IHC score. We noticed that all samples of ARDS cases exhibited elements of the proliferative phase. Immunohistochemical analysis of lung tissue in patients with ARDS showed strong positive staining for IL-6 (2.8 ± 0.7), IL-8 (2.2 ± 1.3), and IL-18 (2.7 ± 1.2), while staining of the control samples resulted in no positivity to low/moderate positivity (for IL-6 1.4 ± 0.5; for IL-8 0.1 ± 0.4; for IL-18 0.6 ± 0.9). Only IL-6 correlated negatively with the patients' age (r =  -0.6805, p < 0.01). In this study, we described microstructural changes in lung sections of ARDS cases and control cases, as well as interleukins' expression, demonstrating that autopsy material is as informing as tissue samples collected by performing open lung biopsy.

Foodomics and Food Safety: Where We Are

The power of foodomics as a discipline that is now broadly used for quality assurance of food products and adulteration identification, as well as for determining the safety of food, is presented. Concerning sample preparation and application, maintenance of highly sophisticated instruments for both high-performance and high-throughput techniques, and analysis and data interpretation, special attention has to be paid to the development of skilled analysts. The obtained data shall be integrated under a strong bioinformatics environment. Modern mass spectrometry is an extremely powerful analytical tool since it can provide direct qualitative and quantitative information about a molecule of interest from only a minute amount of sample. Quality of this information is influenced by the sample preparation procedure, the type of mass spectrometer used and the analyst's skills. Technical advances are bringing new instruments of increased sensitivity, resolution and speed to the market. Other methods presented here give additional information and can be used as complementary tools to mass spectrometry or for validation of obtained results. Genomics and transcriptomics, as well as affinity-based methods, still have a broad use in food analysis. Serious drawbacks of some of them, especially the affinity-based methods, are the cross-reactivity between similar molecules and the influence of complex food matrices. However, these techniques can be used for pre-screening in order to reduce the large number of samples. Great progress has been made in the application of bioinformatics in foodomics. These developments enabled processing of large amounts of generated data for both identification and quantification, and for corresponding modeling.

Use of Foodomics for Control of Food Processing and Assessing of Food Safety

Food chain, food safety, and food-processing sectors face new challenges due to globalization of food chain and changes in the modern consumer preferences. In addition, gradually increasing microbial resistance, changes in climate, and human errors in food handling remain a pending barrier for the efficient global food safety management. Consequently, a need for development, validation, and implementation of rapid, sensitive, and accurate methods for assessment of food safety often termed as foodomics methods is required. Even though, the growing role of these high-throughput foodomic methods based on genomic, transcriptomic, proteomic, and metabolomic techniques has yet to be completely acknowledged by the regulatory agencies and bodies. The sensitivity and accuracy of these methods are superior to previously used standard analytical procedures and new methods are suitable to address a number of novel requirements posed by the food production sector and global food market.

Foodborne pathogens and their toxins

Foodborne pathogens, mostly bacteria and fungi, but also some viruses, prions and protozoa, contaminate food during production and processing, but also during storage and transport before consuming. During their growth these microorganisms can secrete different components, including toxins, into the extracellular environment. Other harmful substances can be also liberated and can contaminate food after disintegration of food pathogens. Some bacterial and fungal toxins can be resistant to inactivation, and can survive harsh treatment during food processing. Many of these molecules are involved in cellular processes and can indicate different mechanisms of pathogenesis of foodborne organisms. More knowledge about food contaminants can also help understand their inactivation. In the present review the use of proteomics, peptidomics and metabolomics, in addition to other foodomic methods for the detection of foodborne pathogenic fungi and bacteria, is overviewed. Furthermore, it is discussed how these techniques can be used for discovering biomarkers for pathogenicity of foodborne pathogens, determining the mechanisms by which they act, and studying their resistance upon inactivation in food of animal and plant origin.

BIOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE

Comprehensive and comparative view into the genome and proteome of foodborne pathogens of bacterial or fungal origin and foodomic, mostly proteomic, peptidomic and metabolomic investigation of their toxin production and their mechanism of action is necessary in order to get further information about their virulence, pathogenicity and survival under stress conditions. Furthermore, these data pave the way for identification of biomarkers to trace sources of contamination with food-borne microorganisms and their endo- and exotoxins in order to ensure food safety and prevent the outbreak of food-borne diseases. Therefore, detection of pathogens and their toxins during production, transport and before consume of food produce, as well as protection against food spoilage is a task of great social, economic and public health importance.