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The in vitro and in vivo evidence compatible with a role for oxidative stress in OTA carcinogenicity has been collected and described. Several potential oxido-reduction mechanisms have been identified in the past. More recently, the possibility of a reduction of cellular antioxidant defense has been raised as an indirect source of oxidative stress. Consequences resulting from the production of oxidative stress are observed at different levels. First, OTA exposure has been associated with increased levels of oxidative DNA, lipid, and protein damage. Second, various biological processes known to be mobilized under oxidative stress were shown to be altered by OTA. These effects have been observed in both in vitro and in vivo test systems. In vivo, active doses were often within doses documented to induce renal tumors in rats. In conclusion, the evidence for the induction of an oxidative stress response resulting from OTA exposure can be considered strong. Because the contribution of the oxidative stress response in the development of cancers is well established, a role in OTA carcinogenicity is plausible. Altogether, the data reviewed above support the application of a threshold-based approach to establish safe level of dietary human exposure to OTA.

The present study defines a physiologically based biokinetic (PBBK) model for the alkenylbenzene estragole in rat based on in vitro metabolic parameters determined using relevant tissue fractions, in silico derived partition coefficients, and physiological parameters derived from the literature. The model consists of eight compartments including liver, lung and kidney as metabolizing compartments, and additional compartments for fat, arterial blood, venous blood, rapidly perfused tissue and slowly perfused tissue. Evaluation of the model was performed by comparing the PBBK predicted dose-dependent formation of the estragole metabolites 4-allylphenol and 1′-hydroxyestragole glucuronide to literature reported levels of these metabolites, which were demonstrated to be in the same order of magnitude. With the model obtained the relative extent of bioactivation and detoxification of estragole at different oral doses was examined. At low doses formation of 4-allylphenol, leading to detoxification, is observed to be the major metabolic pathway, occurring mainly in the lung and kidney due to formation of this metabolite with high affinity in these organs. Saturation of this metabolic pathway in the lung and kidney leads to a relative increase in formation of the proximate carcinogenic metabolite 1′-hydroxyestragole, occurring mainly in the liver. This relative increase in formation of 1′-hydroxyestragole leads to a relative increase in formation of 1′-hydroxyestragole glucuronide and 1′-sulfooxyestragole the latter being the ultimate carcinogenic metabolite of estragole. These results indicate that the relative importance of different metabolic pathways of estragole may vary in a dose-dependent way, leading to a relative increase in bioactiviation of estragole at higher doses. © 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The threshold of toxicological concern (TTC) is a pragmatic risk assessment tool that is based on the principle of establishing a human exposure threshold value for all chemicals, below which there is a very low probability of an appreciable risk to human health. The concept that there are levels of exposure that do not cause adverse effects is inherent in setting acceptable daily intakes (ADIs) for chemicals with known toxicological profiles. The TTC principle extends this concept by proposing that a de minimis value can be identified for many chemicals, in the absence of a full toxicity database, based on their chemical structures and the known toxicity of chemicals which share similar structural characteristics. The establishment and application of widely accepted TTC values would benefit consumers, industry and regulators. By avoiding unnecessary toxicity testing and safety evaluations when human intakes are below such a threshold, application of the TTC approach would focus limited resources of time, cost, animal use and expertise on the testing and evaluation of substances with the greatest potential to pose risks to human health and thereby contribute to a reduction in the use of animals. An Expert Group of the European branch of the International Life Sciences Institute - ILSI Europe -has examined the TTC principle for its wider applicability in food safety evaluation. The Expert Group examined metabolism and accumulation, structural alerts, endocrine disrupting chemicals and specific endpoints, such as neurotoxicity, teratogenicity, developmental toxicity, allergenicity and immunotoxicity, and determined whether such properties or endpoints had to be taken into consideration specifically in a step-wise approach. The Expert Group concluded that the TTC principle can be applied for low concentrations in food of chemicals that lack toxicity data, provided that there is a sound intake estimate. The use of a decision tree to apply the TTC principle is proposed, and this paper describes the step-wise process in detail. Proteins, heavy metals and polyhalogenated-dibenzodioxins and related compounds were excluded from this approach. When assessing a chemical, a review of prior knowledge and context of use should always precede the use of the TTC decision tree. The initial step is the identification and evaluation of possible genotoxic and/or high potency carcinogens. Following this step, non-genotoxic substances are evaluated in a sequence of steps related to the concerns that would be associated with increasing intakes. For organophosphates a TTC of 18small mu, Greekg per person per day (0.3 small mu, Greekg/kg bw/day) is proposed, and when the compound is not an OP, the TTC values for the Cramer structural classes III, II and I, with their respective TTC levels (e.g. 1800, 540 and 90 small mu, Greekg per person per day; or 30, 9 and 1.5 small mu, Greekg/kg bw /day), would be applied sequentially. All other endpoints or properties were shown to have a distribution of no observed effect levels (NOELs) similar to the distribution of NOELs for general toxicity endpoints in Cramer classes I, II and III. The document was discussed with a wider audience during a workshop held in March 2003 (see list of workshop participants).