Microbial degradation of petroleum hydrocarbons.

Today nanotechnology is finding growing applications in industry, biology, and medicine. The clear benefits of using nanosized products in various biological and medical applications are often challenged by concerns about the lack of adequate data regarding their toxicity. One area of interest involves the interactions between nanoparticles and the components of the immune system. Nanoparticles can be engineered to either avoid immune system recognition or specifically inhibit or enhance the immune responses. We review herein reported observations on nanoparticle-mediated immunostimulation and immunosuppression, focusing on possible theories regarding how manipulation of particle physicochemical properties can influence their interaction with immune cells to attain desirable immunomodulation and avoid undesirable immunotoxicity.

Minireview: Nanoparticles and the Immune System

Effects of currently used pesticides in assays for estrogenicity, androgenicity, and aromatase activity in vitro.

Cadmium (Cd2+) is a common environmental pollutant and a major constituent of tobacco smoke. Exposure to this heavy metal, which has no known beneficial physiological role, has been linked to a wide range of detrimental effects on mammalian reproduction. Intriguingly, depending on the identity of the steroidogenic tissue involved and the dosage used, it has been reported to either enhance or inhibit the biosynthesis of progesterone, a hormone that is inexorably linked to both normal ovarian cyclicity and the maintenance of pregnancy. Thus, Cd2+ has been shown to exert significant effects on ovarian and reproductive tract morphology, with extremely low dosages reported to stimulate ovarian luteal progesterone biosynthesis and high dosages inhibiting it. In addition, Cd2+ exposure during human pregnancy has been linked to decreased birth weights and premature birth, with the enhanced levels of placental Cd2+ resulting from maternal exposure to industrial wastes or tobacco smoke being associated with decreas...

Endocrine disruption by cadmium, a common environmental toxicant with paradoxical effects on reproduction.

Cadmium (Cd) is a heavy metal that has received considerable concern environmentally and occupationally. Cd has a long biological half-life mainly due to its low rate of excretion from the body. Thus, prolonged exposure to Cd will cause toxic effect due to its accumulation over time in a variety of tissues, including kidneys, liver, central nervous system (CNS), and peripheral neuronal systems. Cd can be uptaken from the nasal mucosa or olfactory pathways into the peripheral and central neurons; for the latter, Cd can increase the blood brain barrier (BBB) permeability. However, mechanisms underlying Cd neurotoxicity remain not completely understood. Effect of Cd neurotransmitter, oxidative damage, interaction with other metals such as cobalt and zinc, estrogen-like, effect and epigenetic modification may all be the underlying mechanisms. Here, we review the in vitro and in vivo evidence of neurotoxic effects of Cd. The available finding indicates the neurotoxic effects of Cd that was associated with both biochemical changes of the cell and functional changes of central nervous system, suggesting that neurotoxic effects may play a role in the systemic toxic effects of the exposure to Cd, particularly the long-term exposure.

https://downloads.hindawi.com/journals/omcl/2013/898034.pdf

Cadmium and Its Neurotoxic Effects

Since 1960, about 400 tankers spilled more than 377765 tons of oil, with the Prestige accident (Galician coast, NW Spain, November 2002) the most recent. Taking into account the consistent large number of individuals exposed to oil that exists all over the world, it seems surprising the absence in the literature of studies focused on the chronic effects of this exposure on human health. In this work we evaluated the level of DNA damage by means of comet assay, and the potential endocrine alterations (prolactin and cortisol) caused by Prestige oil exposure in a population of 180 individuals, classifi ed in 3 groups according to the tasks performed, and 60 controls. Heavy metals in blood were determined as exposure biomarkers, obtaining signifi cant increases of aluminum, nickel and lead in the exposed groups as compared to controls. Higher levels of genetic damage and endocrine alterations were also observed in the exposed population. DNA damage levels were infl uenced by age, sex, and the use of protective clothes, and prolactin concentrations by the last two factors. Surprisingly, the use of mask did not seem to protect individuals from genetic or endocrine alterations. Moreover, polymor- phisms in genes encoding for the main enzymes involved in the metabolism of oil components were analyzed as susceptibility biomarkers. CYP1A1-3'UTR and EPHX1 codons 113 and 139 variant alleles were related to higher damage levels, while lower DNA damage was observed in GSTM1 and GSTT1 null individuals.

https://la-press.com/redirect_file.php?fileId=1606&filename=EHI-2-Laffon-et-al&fileType=pdf

Anunciación Lafuente

Papers

Biomonitoring of human exposure to prestige oil: effects on DNA and endocrine parameters.

Perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) exposure could modify the dopaminergic system in several limbic brain regions.

Effects of in utero and lactational exposure to endosulfan in prefrontal cortex of male rats.

Regulation of corticosterone secretion is modified by PFOS exposure at different levels of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis in adult male rats.

Neurotoxic effects induced by endosulfan exposure during pregnancy and lactation in female and male rat striatum