Mechanism of toxicity and adverse health effects of environmental pollutants

2022 ◽  
pp. 33-53
Author(s):  
Vandana ◽  
Monika Priyadarshanee ◽  
Uma Mahto ◽  
Surajit Das
Molecules ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (11) ◽  
pp. 3408
Author(s):  
Tristen G. Bridle ◽  
Premkumari Kumarathasan ◽  
Jürgen Gailer

Globally, human exposure to environmental pollutants causes an estimated 9 million deaths per year and it could also be implicated in the etiology of diseases that do not appear to have a genetic origin. Accordingly, there is a need to gain information about the biomolecular mechanisms that causally link exposure to inorganic environmental pollutants with distinct adverse health effects. Although the analysis of blood plasma and red blood cell (RBC) cytosol can provide important biochemical information about these mechanisms, the inherent complexity of these biological matrices can make this a difficult task. In this perspective, we will examine the use of metalloentities that are present in plasma and RBC cytosol as potential exposure biomarkers to assess human exposure to inorganic pollutants. Our primary objective is to explore the principal bioinorganic processes that contribute to increased or decreased metalloprotein concentrations in plasma and/or RBC cytosol. Furthermore, we will also identify metabolites which can form in the bloodstream and contain essential as well as toxic metals for use as exposure biomarkers. While the latter metal species represent useful biomarkers for short-term exposure, endogenous plasma metalloproteins represent indicators to assess the long-term exposure of an individual to inorganic pollutants. Based on these considerations, the quantification of metalloentities in blood plasma and/or RBC cytosol is identified as a feasible research avenue to better understand the adverse health effects that are associated with chronic exposure of various human populations to inorganic pollutants. Exposure to these pollutants will likely increase as a consequence of technological advances, including the fast-growing applications of metal-based engineering nanomaterials.


Toxics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (10) ◽  
pp. 245
Author(s):  
Veerle J. Verheyen ◽  
Sylvie Remy ◽  
Eva Govarts ◽  
Ann Colles ◽  
Laura Rodriguez Martin ◽  
...  

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are environmental pollutants of public health concern. Multiple biological mechanisms have been hypothesized to contribute to PAHs-associated adverse health effects. Little is known about the impact of PAHs on endocrine stress and inflammation in adolescence. We examined 393 Flemish adolescents (14–15 years) cross-sectionally, measured urinary concentrations of hydroxylated naphthalene, fluorene, phenanthrene and pyrene metabolites, and calculated the sum of all measured metabolites. We determined hair cortisol concentration (HCC) as endocrine stress biomarker, leucocyte counts and neutrophil–lymphocyte ratio (NLR) in peripheral blood as inflammatory biomarkers, and urinary 8-oxo-7,8-dihydro-2′-deoxyguanosine (8-oxodG) concentration as oxidative stress biomarker. Exposure–response associations were analyzed by multiple regression, adjusted for a priori selected covariates. A doubling of 1-hydroxypyrene concentration was associated with a factor of 1.13 (95% CI: 1.03, 1.24) increase in HCC and a factor of 1.07 (95% CI: 1.02, 1.13) increase in 8-oxodG. Doublings of 2- and 3-hydroxyphenanthrene concentrations were associated with a factor of 1.08 (95% CI: 1.02, 1.14) and 1.06 (95% CI: 1.00, 1.12) increase in 8-oxodG, respectively. Doubling of 2-hydroxyphenanthrene and of the sum of 2- and 3-hydroxyfluorene was associated with, respectively, a factor of 1.08 (95% CI: 1.02, 1.14) and 1.06 (95% CI: 1.01, 1.13) increase in NLR. Our results indicate the glucocorticoid pathway as a potential target for PAH exposure in adolescents and suggest oxidative stress, endocrine stress, and inflammation in adolescence as underlying mechanisms and early markers for PAH-related adverse health effects.


BMJ Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. e044833
Author(s):  
Gabriel Silver ◽  
Yordanka Krastev ◽  
Miriam K Forbes ◽  
Brenton Hamdorf ◽  
Barry Lewis ◽  
...  

IntroductionPerfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a diverse group of compounds that have been used in hundreds of industrial applications and consumer products including aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF) for many years. Multiple national and international health and environmental agencies have accepted that PFAS exposures are associated with numerous adverse health effects. Australian firefighters have been shown to have elevated levels of PFAS in their blood, specifically perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) and perfluorohexane sulfonic acid (PFHxS), due to the historical use of AFFF. While PFAS concentrations decline over time once the source of exposure has been removed, their potential adverse health effects are such that it would be prudent to develop an intervention to lower levels at a faster rate than occurs via natural elimination rates.Methods and analysisThis is a randomised controlled trial of current and former Australian firefighters in the Metropolitan Fire Brigade/Fire Rescue Victoria, and contractors, with previous occupational exposure to PFAS and baseline elevated PFOS levels. The study is investigating whether whole blood donation every 12 weeks or plasma donation every 6 weeks will significantly reduce PFAS levels, compared with a control group. We have used covariate-adaptive randomisation to balance participants’ sex and blood PFAS levels between the three groups and would consider a 25% reduction in serum PFOS and PFHxS levels to be potentially clinically significant after 12 months of whole blood or plasma donation. A secondary analysis of health biomarkers is being made of changes between screening and week 52 in all three groups.Ethics and disseminationThis trial has been approved by Macquarie University Human Research Ethics Committee (reference number: 3855), final protocol V.2 dated 12 June 2019. Study results will be disseminated via peer-reviewed publications and presentations at conferences.Trial registration numberAustralian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ACTRN12619000204145).


2021 ◽  
pp. 105971232198909
Author(s):  
Harry Heft

It is usually a mark of good design when technologies and tools that mediate goal-directed action are such that the user’s attentional focus is maintained on the intended ends of action rather than on the technologies and tools themselves. When the mediators become the focus, the continuity of goal-directed action is disrupted, and the flow of action can be re-directed. What then is the purpose of the projects designed by the RAAAF studio, as described by Rietveld, which seem to be intended to do both? Disruption of the continuity of goal-directed perception-action may prompt reflection about the circumstances at work, and in so doing provoke a transformation in habitual patterns of action and of thought. The project “The End of Sitting” is intended to remediate the adverse health effects of standard chair-dominated offices through an unconventional office landscape that prompts intermittent postural readjustments, boosting the levels of activity common in such settings. The project “Bunker 599” demonstrates that seemingly unremarkable features of the landscape can sometimes conceal aspects of culture’s history, and that design can function to draw attention to a hidden and even vanishing history. Design can enrich an individual’s sense of place in a stream of cultural history.


2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (19) ◽  
pp. 4901 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leonardo M. R. Ferreira ◽  
Teresa Cunha-Oliveira ◽  
Margarida C. Sobral ◽  
Patrícia L. Abreu ◽  
Maria Carmen Alpoim ◽  
...  

Worldwide, several million workers are employed in the various chromium (Cr) industries. These workers may suffer from a variety of adverse health effects produced by dusts, mists and fumes containing Cr in the hexavalent oxidation state, Cr(VI). Of major importance, occupational exposure to Cr(VI) compounds has been firmly associated with the development of lung cancer. Counterintuitively, Cr(VI) is mostly unreactive towards most biomolecules, including nucleic acids. However, its intracellular reduction produces several species that react extensively with biomolecules. The diversity and chemical versatility of these species add great complexity to the study of the molecular mechanisms underlying Cr(VI) toxicity and carcinogenicity. As a consequence, these mechanisms are still poorly understood, in spite of intensive research efforts. Here, we discuss the impact of Cr(VI) on the stress response—an intricate cellular system against proteotoxic stress which is increasingly viewed as playing a critical role in carcinogenesis. This discussion is preceded by information regarding applications, chemical properties and adverse health effects of Cr(VI). A summary of our current understanding of cancer initiation, promotion and progression is also provided, followed by a brief description of the stress response and its links to cancer and by an overview of potential molecular mechanisms of Cr(VI) carcinogenicity.


1984 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 183-204 ◽  
Author(s):  
ROBERT H. HARRIS ◽  
JOSEPH H. HIGHLAND ◽  
JOSEPH V. RODRICKS ◽  
STAVROS S. PAPADOPULOS

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