Understanding the Trafficking of Toxic Metal(loid)s within Cells

A special issue of Toxics (ISSN 2305-6304). This special issue belongs to the section "Metals and Radioactive Substances".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (11 April 2025) | Viewed by 538

Special Issue Editors


E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Département des Sciences Biologiques, Université du Québecà Montréal (UQAM), Montreal, QC H2X 1Y4, Canada
Interests: metal toxicity; metal detoxification; hyphenated techniques; mining activities; subcellular metal partitioning; environmental metallomics; aquatic environments; benthic organisms
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Chemistry, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB T2N 1N4, Canada
Interests: toxic metal(loid)s; metal-based drugs; red blood cells; target organs; metabolism; molecular toxicology; bioinorganic chemistry; exposure-response relationship

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Research on the trafficking of toxic metal(loid)s within cells provides new and meaningful insights into the molecular processes underlying the detoxification and, more importantly, the adverse effects of these contaminants. A thorough understanding of how metal(loid)s interact or are stored, as well as how they cause cellular impairments within cells, can foster the development of important tools for better environmental risk assessment. Given the relevance and growing number of studies on these needed topics, we invite you to submit original articles that deal with the behaviour of metal(loid)s, their interaction with cellular components (e.g., organelles, biomolecules, etc.), and the ways they are detoxified, as well as the molecular mechanistic toxicity of metal(loid)s inside living cells.

We welcome research studies focused on metal(loid)s of great environmental interest for aquatic and terrestrial environments, as well as human health and elements known as poor data or emerging contaminants.

Research carried out using cutting-edge approaches, such omics (e.g., genomics, proteomics, metallomics, etc.) applied to experimental and field studies to provide such innovative and timely toxicological insights are also welcomed in this Issue.

Dr. Maikel Rosabal
Prof. Dr. Jürgen Gailer
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

  • subcellular toxicity
  • metal interactions
  • subcellular targets
  • molecular toxicity
  • organelles
  • detoxification
  • adverse effects
  • aquatic and terrestrial animals
  • human models

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (1 paper)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

20 pages, 1833 KiB  
Article
Subcellular Partitioning of Trace Elements Is Related to Metal Ecotoxicological Classes in Livers of Fish (Esox lucius; Coregonus clupeaformis) from the Yellowknife Area (Northwest Territories, Canada)
by Aymeric Rolland, Mike Palmer, John Chételat, Marc Amyot and Maikel Rosabal
Toxics 2025, 13(5), 410; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxics13050410 - 19 May 2025
Viewed by 50
Abstract
The subcellular partitioning of trace elements (TEs) may depend on their binding preferences, although few field data are available from mining-impacted areas. Northern pike and lake whitefish were collected from different aquatic systems located in the Yellowknife mining area (Northwest Territories, Canada) to [...] Read more.
The subcellular partitioning of trace elements (TEs) may depend on their binding preferences, although few field data are available from mining-impacted areas. Northern pike and lake whitefish were collected from different aquatic systems located in the Yellowknife mining area (Northwest Territories, Canada) to examine the subcellular partitioning of TEs in liver cells. Elements belonging to metal classes based on binding affinities were considered: A (Ce, La), borderline (As, Pb), and class B (Ag, Cd). Measurements in the metal-detoxified fractions (granule-like structures and heat-stable proteins and peptides) and in the putative metal-sensitive fractions (heat-denatured proteins, mitochondria and microsomes, and lysosomes) revealed marked differences among metal classes. In both fish species, Cd and Ag accumulated more as detoxified forms (higher than 50%, likely bound to metallothionein-like proteins) than La and Ce (not more than 20%). The two borderline TEs (As and Pb) showed an intermediate behavior between classes A and B. Similar proportions were found in the “sensitive” subcellular fractions for all TEs, where quantitative ion character-activity relationships (QICARs) indicated the covalent index and electronegativity as predictors of the TE contribution in this compartment. This study supports the use of classes of metals to predict the toxicological risk of data-poor metals in mining areas. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Understanding the Trafficking of Toxic Metal(loid)s within Cells)
Show Figures

Graphical abstract

Back to TopTop