Mitigating Metal Toxicity: Contaminated Environment, Animal Studies and Human Health

Dear Colleagues,

As is well known, heavy metals pose a threat both to the environment and human health. Metals such as lead, mercury, cadmium, and arsenic have no essential biochemical functions, whereas other heavy metals, such as chromium, iron, copper, and zinc, are essential nutrients required for a variety of biochemical and physiological processes; however, in large amounts, they become toxic. Heavy metals are released into environmental media, i.e., into the air, soil, or water. The main sources include industrial processes, vehicle emissions, agriculture, and waste incineration. Because heavy metals do not biodegrade, they can accumulate in ecosystems and enter the food chain, eventually reaching humans and causing serious, long-term health problems. Chronic exposure may negatively affect a wide range of biological processes. It should be emphasized that the pathway of exposure, the dose, and duration of exposure determine the potential health risk. It should also be highlighted that environmental contamination caused by heavy metals has become a major concern due to their adverse effects and that their removal or reduction remains a challenging task. The search for effective strategies aimed at preventing the harmful effects of heavy metals or mitigating their toxicity is important for both environmental and human health.

We invite authors to submit original research papers or review articles on the impact of metals (metal ions, metal complexes, metal nanoparticles, polyoxometalates (POMs), metal–organic frameworks (MOFs), and POM-based MOFs (PMOFs)) on the environment and/or human health, as well as on the mechanisms of their toxic action. We welcome original papers and review articles focusing on strategies to counteract metal toxicity.

Potential topics include, but are not limited to the following:

• Metal contamination in the environment;
• The impact of metals on the environment;
• Environmental pollution by metals and their toxicological effects on humans;
• The current understanding of the association between environmental xenobiotics (heavy metals) and human health;
• Mechanisms of the toxic action of metals and their impact on cellular processes;
• Promising strategies for counteracting or mitigating metal toxicity;
• Medicinal applications to treat heavy metal toxicity;
• Biologically active compounds of plant-derived compounds in preventing the toxic effects of metals;
• Nanotechnological approaches to counteract the adverse consequences of heavy metals;
• Current trends in protecting environmental media against pollution.

Dr. Agnieszka Scibior
Prof. Dr. Manuel Aureliano
Prof. Dr. Juan Llopis
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Molecular Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. There is an Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal. For details about the APC please see here. Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.