As the largest container and resource of metals, sediment has a special role in the fate of metals. Factors influencing bioavailability of heavy metals in sediment have never been comprehensively ...considered and the sediment properties still fail to understand and even controversial. In this review, the mechanisms of sediment properties such as acid-volatile sulfides (AVS), organic matter, texture (clay, silt or sand) and geology, organism behaviors as well as those influencing the bioavailability of metals were analyzed. Under anoxic condition, AVS mainly reduce the solubility and toxicity of metals, while organic matters, Fe–Mn oxides, clay or silt can stabilize heavy metals in elevated oxidative–reductive potential (ORP). Other factors including the variation of pH, redox potential, aging as well as nutrition and the behavior of benthic organism in sediment also largely alter metals mobility and distribution. These factors are often inter-related, and various toxicity assessment methods used to evaluate the bioavailability of trace metals have been also discussed. Additionally, we expect that some novel synthetic materials like polysulfides, nano-materials, provide the substantial amendments for metals pollution in sediment.
•The influencing mechanisms of sediment geochemical properties on heavy metals bioavailability were analyzed.•AVS stabilize heavy metals in anoxic state but OM and Fe-Mn oxides immobilize metals under aerobic condition.•Considering the sediment geochemical properties is needed when establish the model of bioavailability.
Abstract
Prioritizing the risk posed by thousands of chemicals potentially present in the environment requires exposure, toxicity, and toxicokinetic (TK) data, which are often unavailable. Relatively ...high throughput, in vitro TK (HTTK) assays and in vitro-to-in vivo extrapolation (IVIVE) methods have been developed to predict TK, but most of the in vivo TK data available to benchmark these methods are from pharmaceuticals. Here we report on new, in vivo rat TK experiments for 26 non-pharmaceutical chemicals with environmental relevance. Both intravenous and oral dosing were used to calculate bioavailability. These chemicals, and an additional 19 chemicals (including some pharmaceuticals) from previously published in vivo rat studies, were systematically analyzed to estimate in vivo TK parameters (e.g., volume of distribution Vd, elimination rate). For each of the chemicals, rat-specific HTTK data were available and key TK predictions were examined: oral bioavailability, clearance, Vd, and uncertainty. For the non-pharmaceutical chemicals, predictions for bioavailability were not effective. While no pharmaceutical was absorbed at less than 10%, the fraction bioavailable for non-pharmaceutical chemicals was as low as 0.3%. Total clearance was generally more under-estimated for nonpharmaceuticals and Vd methods calibrated to pharmaceuticals may not be appropriate for other chemicals. However, the steady-state, peak, and time-integrated plasma concentrations of nonpharmaceuticals were predicted with reasonable accuracy. The plasma concentration predictions improved when experimental measurements of bioavailability were incorporated. In summary, HTTK and IVIVE methods are adequately robust to be applied to high throughput in vitro toxicity screening data of environmentally relevant chemicals for prioritizing based on human health risks.
Parabens are a group of substances commonly employed as preservatives, mainly in personal care products, pharmaceuticals and food. Scientific reports concerning their endocrine disrupting potential ...and the possible link with breast cancer raised wide discussion about parabens' impact and safety. This paper provides holistic overview of paraben usage, occurrence in the environment, methods of their degradation and removal from aqueous solution, as well as hazards related to their endocrine disrupting potential and possible involvement in carcinogenesis.
•Parabens (PBs) were ubiquitously detected in the environment.•PBs were found in human urine, serum, milk, placental tissue and breast tumor tissue.•In vivo studies suggest that PBs' impact on the organisms is generally low.•Urinary PBs were correlated with oxidative stress, DNA damage or thyroid hormones.•PBs may be involved in breast cancer development.
Toxicokinetics are important for extrapolating health effects and effect levels observed in laboratory animals to humans for purposes of establishing health-based criteria. We conducted a ...comprehensive review of key absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion (ADME) parameters across different mammalian species for five perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and discussed how these data can be used to inform human health risk assessment of these substances. Our analysis revealed several notable differences among the different PFAS regarding species- and substance-specific tissue partitioning, half-life, and transfer to developing offspring via the placenta or lactation, as well as highlighted data gaps for certain substances. We incorporated these observations in an analysis of whether health-based values for specific PFAS can be applied to other PFAS of differing chain length or toxicological mode of action. Overall, our analysis provides one of the first syntheses of available empirical PFAS toxicokinetic data to facilitate interpreting human relevance of animal study findings and developing health-based criteria for PFAS from such studies.
•Given the same serum concentration, humans may be less susceptible than rats to liver effects of perfluorinated compounds.•Offspring/maternal blood levels of perfluorinated compounds are greater in humans than in rats or mice.•Pharmacokinetics should be taken into consideration when grouping PFAS together to establish health-based criteria.
Microplastic (MP) pollution is a raising global concern in recent years due to its wide distribution. Additionally, most of the MPs have undergone extensive weathering in the environment, and ...weathered MPs may exhibit different physicochemical properties from pristine ones. The review reveals the change in physicochemical properties (e.g. size, color, crystallinity, mechanical property and oxygen-containing groups) and the release of additives and MP-derived intermediates (i.e. oligomers and oxygenated compounds) during weathering processes. Weathering further affects the sorption behavior of MPs for environmental pollutants because of the changed crystallinity, specific surface area and oxygen functional groups. The interaction mechanisms of pristine and weathered MPs with pollutants are summarized, and how weathering processes affect sorption behavior is critically revealed. Because of the changed size, color and surface charges, weathered MPs might be ingested by aquatic organisms in different ways from the pristine ones. The detailed effects of weathering on the ingestion of MPs are discussed, and the potential toxicity of leachates from weathering processes is evaluated. In addition, the environmental components (e.g. natural organic matter and salinity) and biofilm correlated to the sorption behavior of MPs are reviewed. As for the knowledge gap, further studies should focus on the long-term weathering of MPs and the relationships between weathering properties and sorption capacities toward pollutants. The potential risks of weathered MPs and leachates on organisms should be explored.
Display omitted
•Weathering significantly changes the physicochemical properties of microplastics.•Surface area, oxygen groups and crystallinity critically affect sorption of pollutants.•Effects of weathering on the risks of microplastics and leachates are revealed.•NOM, salinity and biofilms involved in the environmental behavior are reviewed.
The purposes of this review are to assess the human exposure and human and experimental evidence for adverse effects of brominated flame-retardants (BFRs) with specific focus on intake from seafood. ...The leakage of BFRs from consumer products leads to exposure of humans from fetal life to adulthood. Fish and fish products contain the highest levels of BFRs and dominate the dietary intake of frequent fish eaters in Europe, while meat, followed by seafood and dairy products accounted for the highest US dietary intake. House dust is also reported as an important source of exposure for children as well as adults. The levels of BFRs in the general North American populations are higher than those in Europe and Japan and the highest levels are detected in infants and toddlers. The daily intake via breast milk exceeds the RfD in 10% of US infants.
BFRs including PBDEs, HBCDs and TBBP-A have induced endocrine-, reproductive- and behavior effects in laboratory animals. Furthermore, recent human epidemiological data demonstrated association between exposure to BFRs and similar adverse effects as observed in animal studies.
Fish including farmed fish and crude fish oil for human consumption may contain substantial levels of BFRs and infants and toddlers consuming these products on a daily basis may exceed the tolerable daily intake suggesting that fish and fish oil alone represent a risk to human health. This intake comes in addition to exposure from other sources (breast milk, other food, house dust). Because potential harmful concentrations of BFRs and other toxicants occur in fish and fish products, research on a wider range of products is warranted, to assess health hazard related to the contamination of fish and fish products for human consumption.
•BFRs are associated with endocrine-, reproductive- and behavioral effects.•Seafood contains the highest levels of BFRs.•The US population carry higher doses of BFRs than Europeans and Japanese.•The highest levels of BFRs are detected in infants and toddlers.•Frequent seafood eaters may exceed the safe level.
Microplastics (MPs) are small plastic pieces with size less than 5 mm that have entered and polluted the environment. While many investigations including several critical reviews on MPs in the ...environment have been conducted, most of them are focused on their occurrences in marine environment. Current understanding on the occurrences, behaviors, and impacts of MPs in the terrestrial environment is far from complete. A systematic review of the literature was thus conducted to promote the research on MPs in the environment. This work is designed to provide a comprehensive overview that summarizes current knowledge and research findings on environmental occurrences, fate and transport, and impacts of MPs. In addition to discussing the occurrences, characteristics, and sources of MPs in the ocean, freshwater, sediments, soils, and atmosphere, the review also summarizes both the experimental and modeling data of the environmental fate and transport of MPs. Research findings on the toxic effects, bioaccumulation, and bioavailability of MPs in the environment are also covered in this critical review. Future perspectives are discussed as well.
Display omitted
•Occurrences, characteristics, and sources of MPs in various environmental media are reviewed.•Experimental and modeling data of the environmental fate and transport of MPs are summarized.•Toxic effects, bioaccumulation, and bioavailability of MPs in the environment are discussed.•Existing knowledge gaps and future research directions are discussed.
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in the environment Evich, Marina G; Davis, Mary J B; McCord, James P ...
Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science),
02/2022, Volume:
375, Issue:
6580
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
Over the past several years, the term PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) has grown to be emblematic of environmental contamination, garnering public, scientific, and regulatory concern. PFAS ...are synthesized by two processes, direct fluorination (e.g., electrochemical fluorination) and oligomerization (e.g., fluorotelomerization). More than a megatonne of PFAS is produced yearly, and thousands of PFAS wind up in end-use products. Atmospheric and aqueous fugitive releases during manufacturing, use, and disposal have resulted in the global distribution of these compounds. Volatile PFAS facilitate long-range transport, commonly followed by complex transformation schemes to recalcitrant terminal PFAS, which do not degrade under environmental conditions and thus migrate through the environment and accumulate in biota through multiple pathways. Efforts to remediate PFAS-contaminated matrices still are in their infancy, with much current research targeting drinking water.
► Small amounts of sulfa-drugs (SNs) are widely detected in the environment. ► SNs are still widely used in animal husbandry. ► The highest concentrations of SNs occur in manure. ► Environmental risk ...of SNs toxicity is insignificant. ► SNs can participate in the generation of drug resistance.
World production and consumption of pharmaceuticals has been steadily increasing. Anti-infectives have been particularly important in modern therapy of microbial infection. Sulfonamides have been widely used for a long time as anti-infectives and are still widely prescribed today. This review presents the most common types of sulfonamides used in healthcare and veterinary medicine and discusses the problems connected with their presence in the biosphere. Based on the analysis of over 160 papers, it was found that small amounts of sulfonamides present in the environment were mainly derived from agricultural activities. These drugs have caused changes in the population of microbes that could be potentially hazardous to human health. This human health hazard could have a global range, and administrative activities have been ineffective in risk reduction.
PDF
