Endocrine disruptors or endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs), as the term implies, are hormonally active substances present in the environment that include many household and industrial products. Relatively low concentrations of EDCs persist in the environment and produce long-term alterations percolating from generation to generations. EDCs are found in plastics and plasticizers (bisphenol A (BPA), nonylphenol and phthalates), in industrial chemicals such as organohalogen chemicals (e.g., polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs), and brominated flame retardants (BFRs)), pesticides, fungicides, and some manufacturing by-products such as dioxins. Apart from the well described maladies caused in part by the EDCs such as cancerous tumors, birth defects and developmental disorders, alterations in neural transmission and formation of neural networks have been increasingly reported. This implicates EDCs in the etiology of neurological disorders. It is suspected that the mind and brain altering ramifications of EDCs are far too broad and too many including neuropsychiatric disorders, autism, attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder as well as learning disabilities, aggressiveness, depression and neural degeneration. In fact, emerging evidence indicates that EDCs affect developing hypothalamic neuroendocrine systems, and change behavioral outcomes throughout a person’s life and in generations to come. If past is prelude, the occurrence of the sporadic onset neurodegenerative diseases and behavioral and psychiatric problems could in part be due to these EDCs.
With our research topic, we aim to bring together the scientific community investigating the EDC exposure as causes of these long-term effects on brain and mind. We hope that through careful amalgamation of ideas and hypothesis, we can unwrap not only the extent of damage to the brain but also the mechanisms involved. We hope to find ways to prevent such exposure in the first place and save environment and ourselves.
We welcome original research articles, reviews as well as systematic epidemiological studies and meta-analytic studies on the following salient and related features:
• Effects of environmental toxicants on the developing brain
• Functional changes in social behavior, locomotion and psychiatric and cognitive changes as a result of toxic insult during early, adulthood or in later phases of life
• Determination of mechanistic aspects of these changes including and beyond detailed investigation of various nuclear steroid and xenobiotic receptors, specific neuronal pathways altered and neuronal plasticity
• EDCs and neural transmission and the formation of neural networks
• Endocrine disruptors and their relation to neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson's disease
• Differential effects of EDCs on brain function and development based on the age of exposure
Endocrine disruptors or endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs), as the term implies, are hormonally active substances present in the environment that include many household and industrial products. Relatively low concentrations of EDCs persist in the environment and produce long-term alterations percolating from generation to generations. EDCs are found in plastics and plasticizers (bisphenol A (BPA), nonylphenol and phthalates), in industrial chemicals such as organohalogen chemicals (e.g., polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs), and brominated flame retardants (BFRs)), pesticides, fungicides, and some manufacturing by-products such as dioxins. Apart from the well described maladies caused in part by the EDCs such as cancerous tumors, birth defects and developmental disorders, alterations in neural transmission and formation of neural networks have been increasingly reported. This implicates EDCs in the etiology of neurological disorders. It is suspected that the mind and brain altering ramifications of EDCs are far too broad and too many including neuropsychiatric disorders, autism, attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder as well as learning disabilities, aggressiveness, depression and neural degeneration. In fact, emerging evidence indicates that EDCs affect developing hypothalamic neuroendocrine systems, and change behavioral outcomes throughout a person’s life and in generations to come. If past is prelude, the occurrence of the sporadic onset neurodegenerative diseases and behavioral and psychiatric problems could in part be due to these EDCs.
With our research topic, we aim to bring together the scientific community investigating the EDC exposure as causes of these long-term effects on brain and mind. We hope that through careful amalgamation of ideas and hypothesis, we can unwrap not only the extent of damage to the brain but also the mechanisms involved. We hope to find ways to prevent such exposure in the first place and save environment and ourselves.
We welcome original research articles, reviews as well as systematic epidemiological studies and meta-analytic studies on the following salient and related features:
• Effects of environmental toxicants on the developing brain
• Functional changes in social behavior, locomotion and psychiatric and cognitive changes as a result of toxic insult during early, adulthood or in later phases of life
• Determination of mechanistic aspects of these changes including and beyond detailed investigation of various nuclear steroid and xenobiotic receptors, specific neuronal pathways altered and neuronal plasticity
• EDCs and neural transmission and the formation of neural networks
• Endocrine disruptors and their relation to neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson's disease
• Differential effects of EDCs on brain function and development based on the age of exposure
