Denatured ricin can be detected as native ricin by immunological methods, but nontoxic in vivo.
Ricin is a glycoprotein from Ricinus communis seeds. It is known to have diverse toxic effects on cells of different visceral organs. In the present study, we purified and denatured ricin in a boiling water bath for different time intervals. We further made an attempt to identify native and denatured ricin by immunobased detection systems. All the antigen/antibody-based assays identified native and denatured ricin. On SDS-PAGE, only native ricin was observed. In western blotting, ricin boiled for 3.75 min gave a strong band on X-ray film. On native polyacryl amide gel electrophoresis, native and denatured ricin gave ricin band in 60-kDa region. The denatured ricin did not [corrected] cause mortality up to 25 mg/kg, while 5 and 10 microg/kg of native ricin caused 50% and 100% mortality, respectively. Detection of native and denatured ricin is very difficult, and the investigating agencies, forensic scientists, and analysts should be very careful while interpreting the results.
Kumar
Om
O
Division of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Defence Research and Development Establishment, Gwalior - 474002, India. omkumar63@rediffmail.com
Pradhan
Santwana
S
Sehgal
Payal
P
Singh
Yamini
Y
Vijayaraghavan
Rajagopalan
R
D000818:Animals; D053593:Forensic Toxicology; D007118:Immunoassay / Q000379:methods; D007841:Latex Fixation Tests; D051379:Mice; D011489:Protein Denaturation; D012276:Ricin / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000633:toxicity
D012276:Ricin