Tanja Zivkovic

Institute for Medical Research and Occupational Health · Department of analytical toxicology and mineral metabolism

In vitro screening for pharmacological activity of existing drugs showed chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine to be effective against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. Oral administration of these compounds to obtain desired pulmonary exposures resulted in dose-limiting systemic toxicity in humans. However, pulmonary drug delivery enab...

Halitosis is a health condition which counts cigarette smoking (CS) among its major risk factors. Cigarette smoke can cause an imbalance in the oral bacterial community, leading to several oral diseases and conditions, including intraoral halitosis. Although the best approach to decrease smoking-related health risks is quitting smoking, this is not...

Purpose Herbal residues from the production and processing of medicinal plants are usually discarded as waste material. Plantago major is an edible plant, traditionally used for medicinal purposes, having wide application in the pharmaceutical and cosmetics industry, usually in the form of liquid extracts and tinctures. In this work, extracts of P....

Maternal cigarette smoking may impair the pro/antioxidant balance, affect bodily element disposition and disturb nutrient and oxygen transport to the developing foetus. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of active maternal smoking during pregnancy on superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activities and metallothion...

Maternal cigarette smoking may impair the pro/antioxidant balance, affect bodily element disposition and disturb nutrient and oxygen transport to the developing foetus. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of active maternal smoking during pregnancy on superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activities and metallothion...

Disruption of element homeostasis may contribute to increased susceptibility of men to cancer development. Whether environmental low-level metal exposure could contribute to the pathogenesis of testicular cancer is unknown. Comparison of the level of 18 elements in whole blood, serum and urine and parameters of oxidative stress/antioxidant status b...

The effect of maternal smoking as a source of exposure to toxic metals Cd and Pb on superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activity, metallothionein (MT), Cd, Pb, Cu, Fe, Mn, Se and Zn concentrations were assessed in maternal and umbilical cord blood and placenta in 74 healthy mother-newborn pairs after term delivery. Sparse di...

a) Exhalion Super SESI coupled to a Q Exactive HF MS system allows rapid monitoring of the absorption of exogenous compounds originating from cigarette smoke and from various inhalable products from the lungs into the bloodstream. b) Nicotine, one the main compounds inhaled upon smoking, showed a well-defined washout pattern: The intensity increase...

Garlic is a valuable source material for medicines due to its known antitumor, hypolipidaemic, antioxidant, and immunomodulatory effects. This study compares the protective effects of conventionally grown (CG) and in vitro propagated garlic (PG) against hydrogen peroxide-induced cytotoxicity in HepG2 cells and their antioxidant activity. Garlic use...

This study proposes the application of the comet assay for the evaluation of DNA damage from frozen human whole blood samples that could be readily used in human biomonitoring and epidemiological studies. It was done on simply frozen whole blood samples collected from male volunteers (N = 60) aliquoted in small volumes and stored at -80 °C without...

We investigated the effect of low-dose exposure to glyphosate on 3 months old male Wistar rats that received p.o. for 28-day doses of 0.1 mg kg-1 b.w. of the acceptable operator exposure level-(AOEL), 0.5 mg kg-1 b.w. consumers acceptable daily intake (ADI), 1.75 mg kg-1 b.w. of the chronic population-adjusted dose (cPAD), 10 mg kg-1 b.w. (100xAOEL...

In this 28 day-study, we evaluated the effects of herbicide glyphosate administered by gavage to Wistar rats at daily doses equivalent to 0.1 of the acceptable operator exposure level (AOEL), 0.5 of the consumer acceptable daily intake (ADI), 1.75 (corresponding to the chronic population-adjusted dose, cPAD), and 10 mg kg-1 body weight (bw) (corres...

This review article provides a summary of the studies relying on oxidative stress biomarkers (lipid peroxidation and antioxidant enzymes in particular) to investigate the effects of atrazine and terbuthylazine exposure in experimental animals and humans published since 2010. In general, experimental animals showed that atrazine and terbuthylazine e...

In European industrial countries testicular cancer is the most common cancer in young men in their twenties and thirties. In the Croatian population, the rapid rise in testicular cancer incidence appears to be one of the highest rates of increase recorded worldwide. Metabolic fingerprinting could be helpful to improve diagnosis and understand the p...

Volatile organic metabolites (VOMs) in human urine can be used in non-targeted metabolomics research to identify specific metabolites that may be useful as new diagnostic, predictive, and prognostic disease biomarkers. Determination of urinary metabolite profile provides novel information on phenotypic characteristics of an organism that cannot be...

Non-targeted metabolomics research of human volatile urinary metabolome can be used to identify potential biomarkers associated with the changes in metabolism related to various health disorders. To ensure reliable analysis of urinary volatile organic metabolites (VOMs) by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), parameters affecting the heads...

The concentration of 23 major and trace elements, total phenolic content (TPC) and 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity were determined in nine samples of strawberry tree honey and compared to other types of unifloral honeys. The most abundant elements in strawberry tree honey were potassium, calcium, magnesium and sodiu...

Circulating platinum (Pt) is detectable in the blood of Pt-treated cancer patients for over a decade after the treatment. Prolonged exposure to Pt, in combination with adverse compounds from nutrition and lifestyle, such as cadmium (Cd), could increase the risk from second cancers. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of simultaneou...

This study evaluated the cyto- and genotoxic effects of three pesticides: α-cypermethrin, chlorpyrifos and imidacloprid applied in vitro to human lymphocytes and HepG2 cells for exposure times of 4 and 24 h at concentrations corresponding to OEL, ADI and REL. Assessments were made using oxidative stress biomarkers and the alkaline comet, cytokinesi...

Increased levels of metallothionein (MT) have recently been found in the blood serum of men with newly diagnosed testicular germ cell tumors (TGCT). In light of previously published results, the aim of this study was to investigate the difference in serum MT levels among patients with different stages of TGCT and compare MT with commonly used marke...

Strawberry tree (Arbutus unedo L.) honey, known as "bitter honey", is a typical product of Mediterranean countries and regions like Sardinia, Corsica, Spain, Portugal, and Croatia. It is recognized as a health-promoting food due to its strong antioxidant activity. Several studies have reported that the antioxidant capacity of the honey is related t...

The strawberry tree (Arbutus unedo L.) is a wild evergreen shrub characteristic for the Mediterranean region. The leaves and fruit of this plant are used in traditional medicine due to their antioxidant, antimicrobial, and antiproliferative properties. These health benefits are mainly originate from the phenolic compounds. Beside polyphenolic healt...

Metallothioneins (MTs) have been disclosed as a useful diagnostic factor for tumour progression and drug resistance in a variety of malignancies. Increased levels of MT in blood serum have been found in patients with several types of cancer, but there is no available information on serum MT levels in patients with testicular germ cell tumour (TGCT)...

Strawberry tree honey is known for being rich in total phenols and its high antioxidant and antiradical activity. Apart from phenols, various major and trace elements can affect its antioxidant activity. The aim of this pilot study was to assess the beneficial effects of short-term supplementation of a usual dose of strawberry tree honey (from Pelj...

This study describes optimisation and validation processes for the simultaneous determination of Ag, As, B, Ca, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, K, Li, Mg, Mn, Mo, Na, Ni, Pb, Se, Sn, and Zn in seminal plasma samples by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) using the octopole reaction system (ORS) collision/reaction cell. Two sample pre-treatmen...

A combination of genetic, environmental and lifestyle factors contributes to adverse effects on the reproductive health in men. Metals are pervasive in food, water, air, tobacco smoke, and alcoholic beverages. Experimental studies suggest that many metals have adverse effects on the male reproductive function. However, information about reproductiv...