Denatured Ricin Can Be Detected as Native Ricin by Immunological Methods, but Nontoxic In Vivo

Authors: Kumar, Om; Pradhan, Santwana; Sehgal, Payal; Singh, Yamini; Vijayaraghavan, Rajagopalan

Source: Journal of Forensic Sciences, Volume 55, Number 3, May 2010 , pp. 801-807(7)

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Abstract:

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 cause mortality up to 25 mg/kg, while 5 and 10 μg/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.

Keywords: forensic sciences; ricin; denatured ricin; Dot ELISA; ICT; toxicity; SDS-PAGE

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1556-4029.2009.01290.x

Affiliations: 1: Division of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Defence Research and Development Establishment, Gwalior - 474002, India.

Publication date: 2010-05-01