PFAS: Lifespan Health Risks from Early-Life Exposure and Underlying Mechanisms
A special issue of Toxics (ISSN 2305-6304).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 22 May 2026 | Viewed by 166
Special Issue Editors
Interests: environmental exposure and fetal development; environmental exposure and reproductive health
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs); per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS); prenatal exposure; fetal growth and development; metabolic and neurological disorders; molecular mechanisms; risk assessment
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are ubiquitous, persistent chemicals that enter humans through multiple environmental routes such as air, food, and water. They cross critical biological barriers including the placental, intestinal, and blood-brain barriers, leading to direct exposure of vulnerable tissues and organs and posing a serious threat to public health. Consistent with the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD) framework, early-life exposure to PFAS is linked to a spectrum of adverse health outcomes spanning the entire lifespan. These effects range from impaired fetal growth and reproductive dysfunction to developmental delays in childhood, as well as increased risks of metabolic and neurological disorders later in life.
This Special Issue invites original research and review articles that explore PFAS exposure pathways, trans-barrier transport, biomonitoring, mechanistic insights, and health effects across the lifespan. We are particularly interested in contributions that achieve the following:
- Quantify and model integrated exposure from environmental media to internal human doses;
- Investigate causal relationships and exposure–response curves connecting early-life PFAS exposure to lifespan health impairments, and identify susceptible exposure windows and vulnerable subpopulations;
- Elucidate mechanisms underlying lifespan health deficits resulting from early-life PFAS exposure and develop novel risk assessment frameworks that incorporate the DOHaD paradigm and cumulative lifelong risks.
Prof. Dr. Pan Yang
Dr. Dan Cai
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 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
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. Toxics is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). 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.
Keywords
- per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance (PFAS) prenatal exposure
- biological barriers
- reproductive health
- fetal growth and development
- metabolic and neurological disorders
- lifelong health
- molecular mechanisms
- risk assessment
- developmental origins of health and disease (DOHaD)
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