Pharmaceuticals, Personal Care products and Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals: the physiological consequences of exposure to pollutants in aquatic animals

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Background

With social progress and the increase of human demand, an explosive growth of both organic and inorganic chemicals has been produced. While this growth has significantly facilitated human life, it has also dramatically increased the presence of chemicals in the environment.

Among these chemicals we can find pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs), such as contraceptives, medicines for thyroid and nervous system disorders and diseases, perfumes, make up and toothpastes; along with Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals (EDCs), exogenous chemicals which can be found in different products including pesticides, children’s products, food contact materials, electronics and building materials, medical tubing, antibacterial products, textiles and clothing. EDCs and some PPCPs can interfere with the body endocrine system by acting as the "hormone mimics" which can activate or block the downstream signaling pathways of some hormones. This interference eventually results in adverse effects such as lowering of the immune defenses, hormonal imbalances, and other dysfunctions that compromise the survival of marine organisms and the balance of the whole ecosystem.

Exposure to these compounds can occur in various ways, including through food, water, skin, air, and even mother to fetus transmission. With the exposure to the pollutants comes a high risk of biomagnification, i.e. the accumulation of toxic substances in living organisms which increases as one rises to the next trophic level, along the food chain, so that the concentration of pollutants is greater in the predator than that present in the tissue of the prey. Aquatic pollution is particularly troublesome because aquatic organisms are captive to continual life-cycle, multigenerational exposure. The accumulation of pollutants in the tissues then comes with some adverse effects,

The aim of this Research Topic is therefore to explore the physiological consequences from the exposure to both PPCPs and EDCs in aquatic animals and to serve as the basis to add understanding on environmentally persistent pollutants.

We welcome submissions focusing on the following research aspects concerning PPCPs and EDCs in aquatic animals:

i) Adverse physiological and endocrine disrupting effects;

ii) The unclear potential health risks of these chemicals and their metabolites;

iii) In vivo metabolism and food chain transmission;

iv) Methods used to evaluate their adverse effects;

v) Biological and molecular mechanisms of their actions;

vi) Epigenetics and transgenerational effects

Keywords: pharmaceuticals, personal care products, aquatic organisms, pollution, PPCPs, endocrine disrupting chemicals, EDCs, ecological risk assessment, Methods, Mechanism of action, Epigenetics, Transgeneration

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