Abstract Synaptic plasticity plays an important role in learning and memory in the developing hippocampus. However, the precise molecular mechanism in lead exposure models remains to be studied. UCP2, an inner mitochondrial anion carrier, regulates synaptic plasticity through uncoupling neurons. And hnRNP K, an RNA binding protein, plays a role in modulating the expression of transcripts coding synaptic

Abstract Environmental pollution by heavy metal ions, organic pollutants, oils, pesticides or dyes is a ubiquitous problem adversely affecting human health and environmental ecology. Development and application novel adsorbents in full-scale treatment systems with effectiveness properties could effective ways to facilitate the extraction and adsorption of environment pollutants from wastewater. Graphene

Abstract Fumonisins, discovered in 1988 are a group of naturally occurring toxins produced by fusarium pathogenic fungi. Besides their presence in animal feeds, contamination of human foods such as corn, millet, oats, rye, barley, wheat and their products are widespread. Exposure to fumonisins results in species and organ specific toxicities including neurological disorders among equids, pulmonary

Abstract Hepatic metabolism catalyzed by the cytochrome P450 (CYP) superfamily affects liver toxicity associated with exposures to natural compounds and xenobiotic agents. Previously we generated a battery of HepG2-derived stable cell lines that individually express 14 CYPs (1A1, 1A2, 1B1, 2A6, 2B6, 2C8, 2C9, 2C18, 2C19, 2D6, 2E1, 3A4, 3A5, and 3A7). In this study, we comprehensively characterized

Abstract 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 between men with testicular germ cell tumors

Abstract Fumonisins, discovered in 1988 are a group of naturally occurring toxins produced by fusarium pathogenic fungi. Besides their presence in animal feeds, contamination of human foods such as corn, millet, oats, rye, barley, wheat and their products are widespread. Exposure to fumonisins results in species and organ specific toxicities including neurological disorders among equids, pulmonary

Abstract Environmental pollution by heavy metal ions, organic pollutants, oils, pesticides or dyes is a ubiquitous problem adversely affecting human health and environmental ecology. Development and application novel adsorbents in full-scale treatment systems with effectiveness properties could effective ways to facilitate the extraction and adsorption of environment pollutants from wastewater. Graphene

Abstract The combination of semiconductor and metal nanocomponents represents an effective way for design of photocatalysts with high efficiency. It is expected that this strategy can be applied to design photo-regulated nanozymes. To prove this concept, BiOBr/PtRu hybrid nanostructures have been fabricated by depositing PtRu nanoparticles on BiOBr nanosheets through a templating co-reduction method

Abstract Many pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs), an important class of natural products, are hepatotoxic and carcinogenic. Increased attention has been paid to PA poisoning cases worldwide. Generally, most PAs themselves are not toxic. However, reactive intermediates formed from PAs by metabolic oxidation have been linked to toxicity and carcinogenesis. PAs themselves are generally not toxic, and their

Abstract Lead (Pb) is ubiquitous in our environment and causes many pathophysiological health effects, including dental diseases. Dental Pb levels are considered good biological indicators of environmental and occupational Pb exposure. Pb in blood and saliva causes imbalances in the growth of oral microflora. The pH of saliva decreases, interferes with and interacts with bone-seeking elements, changes

Abstract Chronic kidney disease of unknown etiology (CKDu) is a major health issue in agricultural areas in Sri Lanka. Despite many attempts to identifying causative factors of CKDu, the real cause/s remain/s elusive to date. Understanding the progression of potential etiologies may provide valuable insight into this quest. Literature relevant to CKDu addresses several etiologies, including quality

Abstract Arsenic contamination in the groundwater of Southern Assam, India is well-documented. A specific type of smokeless tobacco (sadagura, SG) is highly prevalent among the local population. Thus, the present study is aimed to evaluate the toxicological implications of arsenic and smokeless tobacco co-exposure on the reproductive health of female mice. The estrous cycle of experimental animals

The large-scale applications of Triclosan in industrial and household products have created many health and environmental concerns. Despite the fears of its drug-resistance and other issues, Triclosan is still an effective drug against many infectious organisms. Knowing the cross-interactions of Triclosan with different antibiotics, bacteria, and humans can provide much-needed information for the risk

Advancement in the field of nanotechnology has increased the synthesis and exploitation of graphene-like nanomaterials. Graphene is a two-dimensional planar and hexagonal array of carbon atoms. Due to its flexible nature graphene and its derivatives have several significant prospects extending from electronics to life sciences and drug delivery systems. In this review, we enlist some of the toxic effects

Triclosan (TCS), a well-studied antimicrobial compound and an environmental pollutant, is present in many household products. A systematic survey of TCS–antibiotic–bacteria interactions is lacking. We wish to understand the origin of such interactions by testing 16 phylogenetically well-characterized bacteria for their sensitivities to 6 different classes of antibiotics with or without the presence

Environmental and occupational exposures to heavy metals have led to various deleterious damages to the biological system of which infertility is one of them. Infertility is a global public health concern, affecting 15% of all couples of reproductive age. Out of the 100% cases of reported infertility among couples, 40% of the cases are related to male factors; including decreased semen quality. This

Pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs) are extensively distributed in plants and are known to damage hepatic sinusoidal endothelial cells (HSECs) via metabolic activation mediated by hepatic cytochrome P450 enzymes (CYPs), particularly the CYP3A4 isozyme. Different PAs have distinct toxic potencies and their toxic effects on HSECs are difficult to be determined in cultured cells, because HSECs lack the key

Pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs) are extensively distributed in plants and are known to damage hepatic sinusoidal endothelial cells (HSECs) via metabolic activation mediated by hepatic cytochrome P450 enzymes (CYPs), particularly the CYP3A4 isozyme. Different PAs have distinct toxic potencies and their toxic effects on HSECs are difficult to be determined in cultured cells, because HSECs lack the key

The investigation of estrogen actions and their interaction characteristics with estrogen receptors (ERs) to induce unique functional features inside cells have allowed us to understand better the regulation of many vital physiological and cellular processes in humans. The biological effects of estrogenic ligands or compounds are mediated via estrogen receptors that act as the ligand-activated transcription

(2020). Correction. Journal of Environmental Science and Health, Part C: Vol. 38, No. 2, pp. 141-141.

Microplastics (MPs) and associated contaminants have become a major environmental concern. From available literature, their ubiquitous presence is now well established. However, the kind and level of toxicological impacts these MPs accomplish on various life forms are not well understood. Nevertheless, the environmental toxicity of MP is now being revealed gradually with supporting studies involving

The hepatotoxic pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs) are metabolically activated in the liver to form reactive dehydro-PAs, which generate pyrrole-protein adducts leading to hepatotoxicity. Monocrotaline, but not other PAs, is also pneumotoxic, supposedly due to the migration of the liver-generated corresponding dehydro-PA into the lung to form pyrrole-protein adducts to induce pneumotoxicity. The present

Pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs) are hepatotoxic, genotoxic, and carcinogenic phytochemicals. Upon metabolic activation, PAs produce dehydropyrrolizidine alkaloids (dehydro-PAs) as reactive primary pyrrolic metabolites. Dehydro-PAs are unstable, facilely hydrolyzed to (±)−6,7-dihydro-7-hydroxy-1-hydroxymethyl-5H-pyrrolizine (DHP). Both dehydro-PAs and DHP are capable of binding to cellular DNA and proteins

Ascorbic acid is often used to enhance iron absorption in nutritional interventions, but it produces pro-oxidant effects in the presence of iron. This study aimed to evaluate ascorbate's role in iron toxicity on intestinal resistance against foodborne pathogens during iron supplementation/fortification. In polarized Caco-2 cell monolayers, compared to the iron-alone treatment, the iron-ascorbate co-treatment

Nigeria receives copious annual precipitation to nourish its forests and agriculture, it has an extensive river drainage system, and it possesses valuable mineral deposits that stimulate both commercial and artisan mining activities. The combination of these features complicates Nigeria's efforts to produce adequate amounts of healthy foods to support its population. Toxic heavy metals like lead, cadmium

Freshwater harmful algal blooms (HABs) have become a global concern because blooms contain cyanotoxins that can cause liver damage and other negative health impacts. In South Korea, HABs have been frequently observed along the major rivers (Han, Geum, Nakdong, and Youngsan) in recent years. However, there are hardly any studies that report a linkage between HABs and human health, especially along the

Silver nanoparticles (AgNP) exhibit size and concentration dependent toxicity to terrestrial plants, especially crops. AgNP exposure could decrease seed germination, inhibit seedling growth, affect mass and length of roots and shoots. The phytotoxic pathway has been partly understood. Silver (as element, ion or AgNP) accumulates in roots/leaves and triggers the defense mechanism at cellular and tissue

A comprehensive review of available bioremediation technologies for the pesticide malathion is presented. This review article describes the usage and consequences of malathion in the environment, along with a critical discussion on modes of metabolism of malathion as a sole source of carbon, phosphorus, and sulfur for bacteria, and fungi along with the biochemical and molecular aspects involved in

Lead (Pb) exposure during different stages of development has demonstrated dose, duration, sex, and tissue-specific pathophysiological outcomes due to altered epigenetic regulation via (a) DNA methylation, (b) histone modifications, (c) miRNAs, and (d) chromatin accessibility. Pb-induced alteration of epigenetic regulation causes neurotoxic and extra-neurotoxic pathophysiological outcomes. Neurotoxic

Aflatoxins [AFs] are secondary metabolites of the fungus species Aspergillus spp. Both animal and epidemiological studies provided sufficient evidence on the carcinogenic, immunotoxic, mutagenic, and genotoxic potential of AFs. While ingestion is the main route of exposure for AFs through consumption of contaminated food products, agricultural workers and personnel who handle AF-contaminated grains

Today, due to the growth of industries and spread of the use of various instruments and devices that produce high noise levels, it is necessary to pay more attention to the effects of exposure to noise on organs and tissues in the body. The importance of the immune system in fighting external and pathogenic factors has raised the need to consider external factors (such as harmful physical factors)

Environmental exposures to hazardous chemicals are associated with a variety of human diseases and disorders, including cancers. Phase I metabolic activation and detoxification reactions catalyzed by cytochrome P450 enzymes (CYPs) affect the toxicities of many xenobiotic compounds. Proper regulation of CYP expression influences their biological effects. Noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs) are involved in regulating

Gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) hold great promise in food, industrial and biomedical applications due to their unique physicochemical properties. However, influences of the gastrointestinal tract (GIT), a likely route for Au NPs administration, on the physicochemical properties of Au NPs has been rarely evaluated. Here, we investigated the influence of GIT fluids on the physicochemical properties of Au

Combinations of semiconductor nanoparticles (NPs) with noble metal NPs enable an increase in the photoactivity of semiconductor NPs into the visible and near-infrared regions. The design rationale of the semiconductor-metal hybrid nanostructures for the optimization of charge carrier separation and reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation remains unclear. In this study, the interactions of Au nanorods

Many metal nanoparticles are reported to have intrinsic enzyme-like activities and offer great potential in chemical and biomedical applications. In this study, PtCu alloy nanoparticles (NPs), synthesized through hydrothermal treatment of Cu2+ and Pt2+ in an aqueous solution, were evaluated for ferroxidase-like and antibacterial activity. Electron spin resonance (ESR) spectroscopy and colorimetric

Hexavalent chromium [Cr (VI)] contributes a significant health risk and causes a number of chronic diseases and cancers. While the genotoxic and carcinogenic effects of hexavalent chromium exposure are explicit and better-characterized, the exact mechanism underlying the carcinogenic process of Cr (VI) is still a matter of debate. In recent years, studies have shown that epigenetic modifications, especially

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPARs) are nuclear transcription factors that play a role in lipid metabolism, cell proliferation, terminal differentiation, apoptosis, and inflammation. Although several cancer models have been suggested to explain PPARs' involvement in tumorigenesis, however, their role is still unclear. In this review, we examined associations of the different PPARs,

Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) have been previously shown to induce gut dysbiosis during colitis in mice, but the underlying mechanism is not clear yet. Here, we evaluated the effects of AuNPs (5 nm diameter, coated with tannic acid, polyvinylpyrrolidone or citrate) on H2O2 accumulation and pathogen antagonization by an intestinal strain of Lactobacillus gasseri under aerobic cultural conditions. AuNPs

Nanoscale photocatalysts have attracted abundant research attention in the solar-activated disinfection. In this work, we find that solar irradiation significantly improves the antimicrobial activity of graphene quantum dots (GQDs), accompanied by severe oxidative stress and membrane damage. By using electron spin resonance (ESR) technique, we confirm that different reactive oxygen species (ROS), including

Humans and wildlife inhabit a world with panoply of natural and synthetic chemicals. Alarmingly, only a limited number of chemicals have undergone comprehensive toxicological evaluation due to limitations of traditional toxicity testing. High-throughput screening assays provide a higher-speed alternative for conventional toxicity testing. Advancement of high-throughput bioassay technology has greatly

Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) mimic natural hormones and disrupt endocrine function. Humans and wildlife are exposed to EDCs might alter endocrine functions through various mechanisms and lead to an adverse effects. Hence, EDCs identification is important to protect the ecosystem and to promote the public health. Leveraging in-vitro and in-vivo experiments to identify potential EDCs is time

Reactive Red 195 was detected from industrial waste samples electrochemically on graphene modified glassy carbon electrode (GCE), using both bare and surface changed GCE at different pH media from 1.0 to 13.0. The optimum pH was determined to be 4.0. RR 195 exhibited good linear responds at pH 4.0 on both electrode surfaces. Other parameters, such as accumulation potential, accumulation time, initial

In silico toxicity prediction plays an important role in the regulatory decision making and selection of leads in drug design as in vitro/vivo methods are often limited by ethics, time, budget, and other resources. Many computational methods have been employed in predicting the toxicity profile of chemicals. This review provides a detailed end-to-end overview of the application of machine learning

We introduce here ML4Tox, a framework offering Deep Learning and Support Vector Machine models to predict agonist, antagonist, and binding activities of chemical compounds, in this case for the estrogen receptor ligand-binding domain. The ML4Tox models have been developed with a 10 × 5-fold cross-validation schema on the training portion of the CERAPP ToxCast dataset, formed by 1677 chemicals, each

Noble metal nanoparticles (NPs) and their hybrids have demonstrated a strong potential to mimic the catalytic activity of natural enzymes and diminish oxidative stress. There is a large space to explore the intrinsic catalytic activity of Rh NPs with respect to reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenging. We found that Rh NPs can quench H2O2, •OH, O2•-, 1O2 and inhibit lipid peroxidation under physiological

Drinking mate, an infusion of the herb ilex paraguariensis, is very common in several South American countries, and has been associated with an increased risk of esophageal cancer. This increased risk may be attributed to drinking mate very hot, or to mate's potentially carcinogenic contaminants, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Mate leaves are often dried via smoking, and therefore

The modification of semiconductor nanostructures with metallic nanocomponents can promote the separation of electron/hole from photoexited semiconductors by forming heterojunctions, thus exhibit enhanced photocatalytic activities and potential applications. In this study, Pt-based NPs, including Pt, PtCu, and PtCuCo are employed as model co-catalysts to comparatively study their capability to enhance

The metabolic fate and toxicokinetics of organic phosphorus flame retardants catalyzed by cytochrome P450 enzymes (CYPs) are here investigated by in silico simulations, leveraging an active center model to mimic the CYPs, triphenyl phosphate (TPHP), tris(2-butoxyethyl) phosphate and tris(1,3-dichloro-2-propyl) phosphate as substrates. Our calculations elucidated key main pathways and predicted products

Phthalates are widely used in polymer materials as a plasticizer. These compounds possess potent toxic variations depending on their chemical structures. However, a growing body of evidence indicates that phthalate compounds are undoubtedly discovered in secondary metabolites of organisms, including plants, animals and microorganisms. This review firstly summarizes biological sources of various phthalates

As the number of man-made chemicals increases at an unprecedented pace, efforts of quickly screening and accurately evaluating their potential adverse biological effects have been hampered by prohibitively high costs of in vivo/vitro toxicity testing. While it is unrealistic and unnecessary to test every uncharacterized chemical, it remains a major challenge to develop alternative in silico tools with

Molecular imaging has been widely applied in preclinical research. Among these new molecular imaging modalities, microPET imaging can be utilized as a very powerful tool that can obtain the measurements of multiple biological processes in various organs repeatedly in a same subject. This review discusses how this new approach provides noninvasive biomarker for neurotoxicology research and summarizes

Aluminum (Al) toxicity is a major factor limiting plant productivity. The objective of the present study was to develop the mechanisms of boron (B) alleviating aluminum toxicity in citrus. The results showed that aluminum toxicity severely hampered root elongation. Interestingly, under aluminum exposure, boron supply improved superoxide dismutase activity while reducing peroxidase, catalase and polyphenol

The polar and non-polar extracts from the authenticated wild mushroom Phylloporia ribis were separated by hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography (HILIC) and by reverse phase (RP)-HPLC, respectively. A split valve separated the eluents into two fractions for free-radical scavenging analysis and for structural identification. Forty-six compounds showed scavenging activity of the stable-free radical

Noble metal nanoparticles (NPs) have been widely used in many consumer products. Their effects on the antioxidant activity of commercial dietary supplements have not been well evaluated. In this study, we examined the effects of gold (Au NPs), silver (Ag NPs), platinum (Pt NPs), and palladium (Pd NPs) on the hydroxyl radical (·OH) scavenging ability of three dietary supplements vitamin C (L-ascorbic

A toxicoproteomic study was performed on liver of rats treated with retrorsine (RTS), a representative hepatotoxic pyrrolizidine alkaloid at a toxic dose (140 mg/kg) known to cause severe acute hepatotoxicity. By comparing current data with our previous findings in mild liver lesions of rats treated with a lower dose of RTS, seven proteins and three toxicity pathways of vascular endothelial cell death

An improved method based on HPLC-TOF/MS was developed to catalog the antioxidants in five species of Chaenomeles (Mugua). Forty-four fractions from the Mugua extracts show appreciable levels of antioxidative activity in scavenging the stable free-radical 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl and the hydroxyl radicals. Twelve major antioxidant's chemical structures are identified. Antioxidant activities differ

Nanoparticles are used widely in our lives, but the understanding of their impacts on human and environmental health is still limited, at least due in part to the fact that nanoparticles are mixtures. This review describes that "nanotoxicity" is actually a test of the overall effect of a nanoparticle mixture: starting materials for nanoparticle preparation, surface coating agents, surface reaction-generated

Engineered nanomaterials may adversely impact human health and environmental safety by nano-bio-eco interactions not fully understood. Their interaction with biotic and abiotic environments are varied and complicated, ranging from individual species to entire ecosystems. Their behavior, transport, fate, and toxicological profiles in these interactions, addressed in a pioneering study, are subsequently