Change of benzo(a)pyrene during frying and its groove binding to calf thymus DNA

Mingming Hu; Miao Zhu; Le Xin; Guowen Zhang; Shimin Wu; Xing Hu; Deming Gong

doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2021.129276

Change of benzo(a)pyrene during frying and its groove binding to calf thymus DNA

Food Chem. 2021 Jul 15:350:129276. doi: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2021.129276. Epub 2021 Feb 9.

Authors

Mingming Hu¹, Miao Zhu¹, Le Xin², Guowen Zhang³, Shimin Wu², Xing Hu¹, Deming Gong¹

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Technology, Nanchang University, Nanchang 330047, China.
² Department of Food Science and Technology, School of Agriculture and Biology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai 200240, China; Bor S. Luh Food Safety Research Centre, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai 200240, China.
³ State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Technology, Nanchang University, Nanchang 330047, China. Electronic address: gwzhang@ncu.edu.cn.

PMID: 33609937
DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2021.129276

Abstract

Benzo[a]pyrene (BaP), a prototype of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) with potential mutagenicity, toxicity and carcinogenicity, is ubiquitous in deep-fried foods. Herein, the changes in eight specific PAHs (PAH8) concentration in sunflower oil during frying were investigated by gas chromatography-triple quadrupole-mass spectrometry (GC-QqQ-MS). PAH8 concentrations in sunflower oil were 23.92-27.82 μg kg^-1 and increased with increasing frying time. The detected BaP levels were 3.64-4.00 μg kg^-1, exceeding the upper limit (2 μg kg^-1) set by European Union (EU), though below the limiting value (10 μg kg^-1) in China. The interaction between BaP and calf thymus DNA (ctDNA) was explored through various spectroscopic methods and molecular docking. Melting studies, denaturation experiments, ionic strength effects and viscosity measurements indicated that BaP interacted with ctDNA primarily via groove binding as evidenced by circular dichroism analysis and molecular docking. Further gel electrophoresis assays suggested that DNA was damaged at high levels of BaP.

Keywords: Benzo[a]pyrene; Calf thymus DNA; Deep-frying; Groove binding; Sunflower oil.

MeSH terms

Animals
Benzo(a)pyrene / analysis*
Benzo(a)pyrene / chemistry*
Cooking*
DNA / chemistry*
Molecular Docking Simulation
Nucleic Acid Conformation*

Substances

Benzo(a)pyrene
DNA
calf thymus DNA