There is a lack of information regarding the quantitative determination and health risk assessment of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in grilled and fried meat products in Shandong Province of China. The aim of this work was firstly to detect the contamination levels of 15 PAHs in 52 grilled and fried meats consumed by the population of Shandong Province, China. In brief, concentrations of the sum of 15 PAHs in individual samples were ranged from 8.23 to 341 μg/kg with a mean contamination level of 63.3 μg/kg. Moreover, the factors for the formation of PAHs in these samples have been identified and analyzed. One grilled meat sample exceeded the maximum limits of 2 and 12 μg/kg set for BaP and PAH4 by the European Union. For a further step, the mean dietary exposures for total PAHs from grilled and fried meat products were estimated to be 120 and 74.8 ng/kg bw/day, respectively. Finally, the health risk estimation was performed using the incremental lifetime cancer risk (ILCR) approach. The obtained values of four groups were all lower than 10‐4, indicating a slight potential carcinogenic risk of consumer health. This study was the first attempt to provide baseline information of potential health risk of dietary exposure of PAH‐containing grilled and fried meats, which could be useful for health management of the local consumers.

DBP, one of the phthalic acid esters (PAEs), is known as an endocrine disruptor and is toxic to humans in abnormal concentrations. Here, a high-density and ordered SERS substrate based on the self-assembly of triangular Ag nanoplate (TAgNP) arrays is developed for DBP detection. Benefiting from the ordered arrangement and sharp corners of TAgNPS, the arrays can provide sufficient and uniform hotspots for reproducible and highly active SERS effects. Using Rhodamine 6G (R6G) as a reporter molecule, the SERS enhancement factor (EF) of the TAgNP arrays was found to be as high as 1.2 × 10⁷ and the relative standard deviation was 6.56%. As a trial for practical applications, the TAgNP array substrates were used for the detection of dibutyl phthalate (DBP) in edible oils. In this assay, edible oil samples were added to hexane as an organic phase for the formation of the TAgNP arrays, which caused DBP to be loaded at hotspots. DBP in edible oils could be identified at concentrations as low as 10⁻⁷ M. This SERS substrate based on the TAgNP arrays has great potential applications in the high sensitivity and reproducible detection of contaminants in food.

We developed a novel approach to determine formamidopyrimidine DNA glycosylase (FPG) activity by taking advantage of target-induced self-primed rolling circle amplification (RCA) and magnetic nanoprobes. Herein, a unique nick (8-oxoguanine, 8-oxoG) was positioned in duplex DNA containing P-circle and P₁, which together serve as a FPG substrate, RCA template, and RCA primer probe. The presence of FPG specifically binds 8-oxoG and cleaves the P-circle into two parts, producing 5′-phosphoryl termini. A phosphodiester bond between the 5′-phosphoryl and 3′-hydroxyl termini was formed with the addition of T4 DNA ligase, producing an unnicked circular strand. Using the unnicked strand as the RCA template, the P₁ hybridized with the circle probe as a primer will trigger the RCA process. The RCA reaction produces amounts of long tandem-repeat DNA tiles with multiple recognizing regions for the FAM modified DNA probes (FP) and biotin-modified DNA probes (BP). With the streptavidin–biotin interaction, the BPs and FPs can be easily immobilized on the surface of streptavidin-modified magnetic microbeads (MBs). Due to the RCA enhanced and highly-concentrated fluorescence accumulation on the MBs, an ultralow detection limit of 1.033 U mL⁻¹ for FPG was obtained. Combined with the high tolerance capability of human blood serum owing to magnetic isolation, the FPG assays in human blood serum were also obtained using fluorescence and confocal laser scanning microscopy. These results indicate that this robust self-primed RCA combined with magnetic nanoprobes is an excellent candidate for quantitatively monitoring the FPG activity responsible for DNA oxidative damage-related clinical diagnosis and therapy.

Peroxynitrite (ONOO⁻) is closely related to various physiological and pathological processes. Real-time, selective, and sensitive detection of ONOO⁻ is of great importance. Based on the intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) mechanism, a novel near-infrared (NIR) and naked-eye fluorescence probe DCIPP was developed with “turn-on” fluorescence properties for monitoring ONOO⁻ in living cells. The probe DCIPP is composed of a dicyanoisophorone electron-accepting scaffold and a reactive electron-drawing diphenyl phosphoryl group for imaging ONOO⁻. Upon addition of ONOO⁻, the fluorescence intensity of DCIPP is enhanced obviously at 665 nm in emission spectra, and the colour of DCIPP solution changes from pale yellow to purple at the same time. Based on the nucleophilic propensity of ONOO⁻, this probe displays highly selective detection of ONOO⁻ over other various bioactive molecules and could quantitatively and sensitively detect ONOO⁻ with a low limit of detection (LOD) of 33 nM by the fluorescence method and 0.29 μM by the UV method. Moreover, DCIPP was successfully applied to the fluorescence imaging of ONOO⁻ in living cells and zebrafish with good cell-membrane permeability and low cytotoxicity.