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Environmental Heavy Metals with Their Benefits and Risks for Human Health

A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Toxicology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 February 2026 | Viewed by 484

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Department of Internal Medicine II, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Klinikum Hanau, Teaching Hospital of the Goethe University, 999035 Frankfurt, Germany
Interests: Heavy metals; Heavy metal uptake; Heavy metal disposition, Heavy metal homeostasis; Haber Weiss reaction; Fenton reaction; Benefits and risks for human health; Environmental pollution
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

All heavy metals, in principle, have been generated in the universe before they arrive on Earth, where they are found as ubiquitous pollutants of air, water, and food and are unintentionally consumed by humans. With respect to human health, some heavy metals like iron or copper are beneficial as essential elements to ensure the well-being of humans, provided they have the genes allowing for heavy metal homeostasis and are genetically not determined for Wilson disease (copper) or hemochromatosis (iron). On the contrary, other heavy metals such as cadmium and arsenic are not elements essential but rather are risk factors for human life and health because they are taken up by healthy individuals who cannot provide adequate removal.

For the current Special Issue, we would like to include papers on heavy metals with a focus on experimental and clinical studies that, preferably, consider molecular aspects in close relation to clinical and health factors with experimentally tested hypotheses. This may help provide experimentally tested hypotheses. Consequently, potential authors may be toxicologists, biochemists, epidemiologists, environmental regulators, and clinicians, covering the large group of environmental heavy metals and including their interactions with specific metabolic pathways.

Prof. Dr. Rolf Teschke
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • heavy metals
  • metal compound
  • iron
  • copper
  • cadmium
  • arsenic
  • oxidative stress
  • cell death
  • toxicology
  • Wilson disease
  • hemochromatosis

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

30 pages, 3838 KiB  
Article
Evidence of Organ-Specific Metal Accumulation: ICP-MS Elemental Analysis of Autopsy Tissues of Tobacco Smokers
by Wojciech Flieger, Przemysław Niedzielski, Zofia Wojciechowska, Aleksandra Proch, Jędrzej Proch, Alicja Forma, Andrzej Torbicz, Dariusz Majerek, Grzegorz Teresiński, Jacek Baj, Ryszard Maciejewski and Jolanta Flieger
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2025, 26(13), 6368; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms26136368 - 2 Jul 2025
Abstract
Cigarette smoking exposes individuals to numerous toxic substances, including heavy metals. Smokers are at risk due to the accumulation of these substances in various tissues. Objective: To compare the concentrations of 41 elements in 11 brain regions, the spinal cord, the bronchial, the [...] Read more.
Cigarette smoking exposes individuals to numerous toxic substances, including heavy metals. Smokers are at risk due to the accumulation of these substances in various tissues. Objective: To compare the concentrations of 41 elements in 11 brain regions, the spinal cord, the bronchial, the lungs, and the liver in smokers (n = 11) and non-smokers (n = 17). Elemental composition was determined by ICP-MS after wet digestion in a microwave system. The following toxic elements were detected at levels of µg/g w.w.: Al, Cd, Pb, Ba, As, Ni, and Tl. Significantly higher concentrations of Al were detected in bronchial and lung, and more Pb, Tl, and rare earth elements were detected in the liver of smokers compared to non-smokers. In addition, smokers had significantly lower concentrations of essential elements involved in antioxidant defense, such as Cu, in liver tissue (p = 0.033). The brain and spinal cord in smokers and non-smokers were similar in terms of chemical composition, except the insula, where smokers had greater Al accumulation (p = 0.030), the precentral gyrus, where higher amounts of As, Cd, and Mn were detected, and the septal nucleus accumbens, which preferentially accumulated Cd in smokers; however, the p-values indicate that these differences were not statistically significant. Most brain areas of smokers were characterized by higher Na content (p < 0.05). These findings prove the long-term effects of smoking, demonstrating the bioaccumulation of toxic elements, the increased levels of rare earth elements in the liver, decreased levels of elements involved in the body’s antioxidant defense, and disruption of sodium homeostasis in the brain of smokers. Full article
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