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Topic Review
Toxicology and Gut Microbiota
In recent years, new targets have been included between the health outcomes induced by pesticide exposure. The gastrointestinal tract is a key physical and biological barrier and it represents a primary site of exposure to toxic agents. Recently, the intestinal microbiota has emerged as a notable factor regulating pesticides’ toxicity. However, the specific mechanisms related to this interaction are not well known.
  • 1.0K
  • 09 Jun 2021
Topic Review
Nanoplastics Toxicity Specific to Liver
Plastic pollution in the world is widespread and growing. The environment is swamped with nanoplastics (<100 nm), and the health consequences of these less visible pollutants are unknown. Furthermore, there is evidence that microplastics can release nanoplastics by digestive disintegration, implying that macroplastic exposure can cause direct and indirect disease via nanoplastics. Nanoplastics enters an organism through the respiratory and gastro-intestinal tract where they accumulate into the liver through blood circulation via absorption, or epidermal infiltration. It is stated that macroplastics can cause damage directly at the site of exposure, whereas nanoplastics can influence the liver, causing subsequent damage to other organs. Multi-organ dysfunction is brought on by liver changes, and nanoplastics can readily enter the gut-liver axis and disturb the gut microflora. 
  • 1.0K
  • 16 Jun 2023
Topic Review
Explore Bacterial Toxin Entry Computationally
Many bacteria secrete toxic protein complexes that modify and disrupt essential processes in the infected cell that can lead to cell death. To conduct their action, these toxins often need to cross the cell membrane and reach a specific substrate inside the cell. The investigation of these protein complexes is essential not only for understanding their biological functions but also for the rational design of targeted drug delivery vehicles that must navigate across the cell membrane to deliver their therapeutic payload. Despite the immense advances in experimental techniques, the investigations of the toxin entry mechanism have remained challenging. Computer simulations are robust complementary tools that allow for the exploration of biological processes in exceptional detail.
  • 1.0K
  • 09 Jul 2021
Topic Review
CYP2A13 and Lung Damage
Cytochrome P450 2A13 (CYP2A13) can be found primarily outside the gastrointestinal tract. Possibly that was the reason, why it received less attention than CYP2A6, which forms approximately 3.5–14% of all human CYPs in the liver and was investigated in more detail towards the drug metabolism. However, CYP2A13 plays a crutial part in metabolism of smoke-related carcinogens and in some lung cancers.
  • 1.0K
  • 17 Nov 2021
Topic Review
Human Breast Milk Contamination with Aflatoxin
Aflatoxins are natural toxicants produced mainly by species of the Aspergillus genus, which contaminate virtually all feeds and foods. Apart from their deleterious health effects on humans and animals, they can be secreted unmodified or carried over into the milk of lactating females, thereby posing health risks to suckling babies. Aflatoxin M1 (AFM1) is the major and most toxic aflatoxin type after aflatoxin B1 (AFB1). It contaminates human breast milk upon direct ingestion from dairy products or by carry-over from the parent molecule (AFB1), which is hydroxylated in the liver and possibly in the mammary glands by cytochrome oxidase enzymes and then excreted into breast milk as AFM1 during lactation via the mammary alveolar epithelial cells.
  • 999
  • 30 Dec 2022
Topic Review
Impact  of The Herbicide Glyphosate on Animal Behavior
Use of glyphosate and glyphosate-based herbicides is ubiquitous in US agriculture and widespread around the world. Despite marketing efforts to the contrary, numerous studies demonstrate glyphosate toxicity to non-target organisms including animals, primarily focusing on mortality, carcinogenicity, renal toxicity, reproductive, and neurological toxicity, and the biochemical mechanisms underlying these physiological outcomes. Glyphosate toxicity also impacts animal behavior, both in model systems and in agricultural and environmentally relevant contexts. 
  • 996
  • 15 Aug 2023
Topic Review
Kidney and Heavy Metal Exposure
Mitochondrial injuries appear to be an important factor in cellular senescence. The free radical theory of aging states that generation and leakage of ROS (reactive oxygen species) from the mitochondrial respiratory chain increases with age and leads to intracellular oxidative damage. Deterioration of mitochondrial DNA will impair the function of the respiratory chain, which is accompanied by additional ROS formation and DNA injuries. These events are hypothesized to involve a continuous cycle of reactive radical formation that may lead to accelerated aging.
  • 984
  • 04 Aug 2021
Topic Review
Manganese-Induced Neurotoxicity
Mn-induced synaptic dysfunction, impaired neurotransmission is shown to be mediated by the effects of Mn on neurotransmitter systems and their complex interplay
  • 974
  • 21 Jun 2021
Topic Review
Unintentional Intoxications of Nonhuman Primates: Phytotoxins and Pesticides
Wild and captive nonhuman primates (NHP) are exposed and potentially vulnerable to many natural and man-made toxic threats. Nevertheless, wild NHP are capable of coping with these threats using strategies, namely avoidance, dilution, gastrointestinal degradation, or detoxification, which require genetic potential, learning from parents and conspecifics in their social group, or prior experience through random food sampling and experimentation. Captive NHP are also at high risk for intoxications when they are often housed in an outdoor enclosure in a vivarium or zoo that is in or close to a large urban and industrial city. These NHP are potentially exposed to urban-industrial air pollution due to industrial and vehicle exhausts, waste incineration, and the domestic and industrial use of petroleum-based products, cleaners, pesticides, and paints, amongst others. 
  • 964
  • 26 Apr 2022
Topic Review
Ciguatera Fish Poison
Ciguatera fish poisoning (CP)-related toxins (CTXs) are closely related structural congeners with a polyether backbone similar to brevetoxins. CTXs are classified based on their geographic origin into Pacific Ocean ciguatoxins (P-CTXs), Caribbean Sea ciguatoxins (C-CTXs), and Indian Ocean ciguatoxins (I-CTXs). I-CTX-1 and -2 have the same molecular weight of 1140.6 Da as C-CTX-1 and -2 and are pharmacologically related, but they do not co-elute, and there are no structures available for I-CTX due to poor chromatographic recoveries. 
  • 961
  • 31 Oct 2023
Topic Review
Gut Microbiota-Derived Toxins and CVD
Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) have become a major health problem because of the associated high morbidity and mortality rates observed in affected patients. Gut microbiota has recently been implicated as a novel endocrine organ that plays critical roles in the regulation of cardiometabolic and renal functions of the host via the production of bioactive metabolites. Recent studies in human populations and animal models have shown that alterations in the gut microbiota might be associated with the incidence of CVDs through the production of toxins.
  • 942
  • 11 May 2021
Topic Review
Neurological Signs Produced by Viperid Bites
Snake venoms as tools for hunting are primarily aimed at the most vital systems of the prey, especially the nervous and circulatory systems. The venom of most viperids has a hemolytic effect; victims die from blood incoagulability and numerous hemorrhages in internal organs. However, neurological signs are often observed after viperid bites.
  • 931
  • 24 Feb 2023
Topic Review
Safety Evaluation of Nanotechnology Products
Nanomaterials are now being used in a wide variety of biomedical applications. Medical and health-related issues, however, have raised major concerns, in view of the potential risks of these materials against tissue, cells, and/or organs and these are still poorly understood. These particles are able to interact with the body in countless ways, and they can cause unexpected and hazardous toxicities, especially at cellular levels. Therefore, undertaking in vitro and in vivo experiments is vital to establish their toxicity with natural tissues. 
  • 924
  • 25 Oct 2021
Topic Review
Applications of the Comet Assay in Plant Studies
Contrarily to chronic stresses, acute (i.e., fast and dramatic) changes in environmental factors like temperature, radiation, concentration of toxic substances, or pathogen attack often lead to DNA damage. Some of the stress factors are genotoxic, i.e., they damage the DNA via physical interactions or via interference with DNA replication/repair machinery. However, cytotoxic factors, i.e., those that do not directly damage the DNA, can lead to secondary genotoxic effects either via the induction of the production of reactive oxygen, carbon, or nitrogen species, or via the activation of programmed cell death and related endonucleases. The extent of this damage, as well as the ability of the cell to repair it, represent a significant part of plant stress responses. Information about DNA damage is important for physiological studies as it helps to understand the complex adaptive responses of plants and even to predict the outcome of the plant’s exposure to acute stress. Single cell gel electrophoresis (Comet assay) provides a convenient and relatively inexpensive tool to evaluate DNA strand breaks in the different organs of higher plants, as well as in unicellular algae. Comet assays are widely used in ecotoxicology and biomonitoring applications.
  • 917
  • 29 Feb 2024
Topic Review
Molecular Links between Endocrine Disruptors and Adverse Outcomes
Exposure to Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals (EDCs) has been linked with several adverse outcomes. Transcriptome-wide analyses using RNAseq provide snapshots of cellular, tissue, and whole organism transcriptomes under normal physiological and EDC perturbed conditions. A global view of gene expression provides highly valuable information as it uncovers gene families or more specifically, pathways that are affected by EDC exposures, but also reveals those that are unaffected. Hypotheses about genes with unknown functions can also be formed by comparison of their expression levels with genes of known function.
  • 901
  • 19 Apr 2022
Topic Review
The Case of Hydroxychloroquine in COVID-19 Patients
Using drugs to treat COVID-19 symptoms may induce adverse effects and modify patient outcomes. These adverse events may be further aggravated in obese patients, who often present different illnesses such as metabolic-associated fatty liver disease. In Rennes University Hospital, several drug such as hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) have been used in the clinical trial HARMONICOV to treat COVID-19 patients, including obese patients. The aim of this entry is to determine whether HCQ metabolism and hepatotoxicity are worsened in obese patients using an in vivo/in vitro approach. 
  • 888
  • 14 Jan 2022
Topic Review
The Gut–Liver–Brain Axis
The gut–liver–brain axis constitutes a multidirectional communication network that connects the enteric, hepatic, and central nervous systems. Through the complex interplay between the gut–liver, gut–brain, and liver–brain axes, this communication network extends to involve endocrine, immune (humoral), and metabolic routes of communication. Within the network, the gut and liver affect cognitive behaviors through the host’s immune responses and the regulation of microbiota, and the brain also influences intestinal and hepatic activities. Studies in animals have shown that an impaired gut–liver–brain axis is associated with diseases such as hepatic encephalopathy, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Multiple Sclerosis, depression, and autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
  • 887
  • 01 Feb 2024
Topic Review
Exposure Effects Related to Nanomaterial Life Cycles
Nanoparticle-based biosensors are produced and utilized at different scales ranging from laboratory to industrial domains. While incorporating nanomaterials is beneficial to developing high-performance biosensors, at the stages of scale-up and disposal, it may lead to the unmanaged release of toxic nanomaterials. When considering the potential environmental impact and health safety of the scaled-up production of nano biosensors, it is necessary to examine the manufacturing, utilization, and end-of-life disposal of the nanomaterials used. 
  • 873
  • 06 Dec 2022
Topic Review
The Acute Toxicity of Mineral Fibres
To gain new insights into the different toxicity mechanisms of carcinogenic mineral fibres, the acute effects of fibrous erionite, crocidolite and chrysotile in the THP-1 M0, M1 and M2 macrophages were investigated. The three mineral fibres apparently act by different toxicity mechanisms. Crocidolite seems to exert its toxicity effects mostly thanks to its biodurability, ROS and cytokine production, and DNA damage. Chrysotile, due to its low biodurability, displays toxic effects related to the release of toxic metals, ROS and cytokine production. Other mechanisms are involved in explaining the toxicity of biodurable fibrous erionite with lower ROS and toxic metal release but exhibiting cation exchange capacity able to alter the intracellular homeostasis of important cations. Their results aim to fill the gap on understanding the fine bio-chemical interactions of different types of carcinogenic fibres inside the cells, hopefully helping in upgrading the existing models of toxicity/carcinogenicity of mineral fibres.
  • 857
  • 19 Apr 2022
Topic Review
Ricin Intoxication
Ricin toxin is a disulfide-linked glycoprotein (AB toxin) comprising one enzymatic A chain (RTA) and one cell-binding B chain (RTB) contained in the castor bean, a Ricinus species. Ricin inhibits peptide chain elongation via disruption of the binding between elongation factors and ribosomes, resulting in apoptosis, inflammation, oxidative stress, and DNA damage, in addition to the classically known rRNA damage. Ricin has been used in traditional medicine throughout the world since prehistoric times. Because ricin toxin is highly toxic and can be readily extracted from beans, it could be used as a bioweapon (CDC B-list). 
  • 841
  • 08 Feb 2023
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