Neurological and Endocrine Impacts of Pollutants on Aquatic Organisms

A special issue of Toxics (ISSN 2305-6304). This special issue belongs to the section "Ecotoxicology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 23 January 2026 | Viewed by 246

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
School of Environment, South China Normal University, University Town, Guangzhou 510006, China
Interests: aquatic organisms; neurotoxicity; endocrine disruption effects; ecotoxicology; toxicity prediction

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The types of pollutants we are generating and the rate we are generating them at are both experiencing explosive growth. Various emerging new pollutants are frequently detected in aquatic environments, such as perfluorinated compounds, plastic additives, pharmaceuticals, and personal care products, as well as microplastics and nanoplastics. These emerging pollutants pose significant threats to the normal activities of aquatic organisms. The nervous and endocrine systems of aquatic organisms are highly sensitive to exposure to these emerging pollutants and are easily disrupted, which affects the behavior of individuals, reproductive development, and even endangers the health of offspring, thereby impacting the stability of whole populations.

Therefore, our Special Issue focuses on the effects of emerging pollutants on the neurological and endocrine systems of aquatic species. We aim to elucidate the toxicological mechanisms of emerging pollutants and encourage the adoption of new technologies and methods, such as big data and artificial intelligence, to study the disruptive effects of emerging pollutants on the neurological and endocrine systems of different species. This will deepen our understanding of the ecotoxicity of emerging pollutants and provide foundational data for the scientific assessment of these substances.

Dr. Wenjun Shi
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • aquatic organisms
  • neurotoxicity
  • endocrine disruption effects
  • ecotoxicology
  • emerging pollutants
  • toxicity and risk assessment
  • toxicity prediction

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

14 pages, 3322 KB  
Article
Toxic Effects of BPAF on Marine Medaka (Oryzias melastigma) During Embryo–Larval Stages
by Jiahao Gao, Tianyang Zhou, Zuchun Chen, Ning Zhang, Yusong Guo, Zhongduo Wang, Wenjun Shi and Zhongdian Dong
Toxics 2025, 13(9), 773; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxics13090773 - 12 Sep 2025
Viewed by 166
Abstract
BPAF (Bisphenol AF), one of the primary substitutes for BPA (Bisphenol A), is widely used in the production of plastics, optical fibers, and other materials. During the use of these products, BPAF inevitably enters the environment and exerts toxic effects on animal growth, [...] Read more.
BPAF (Bisphenol AF), one of the primary substitutes for BPA (Bisphenol A), is widely used in the production of plastics, optical fibers, and other materials. During the use of these products, BPAF inevitably enters the environment and exerts toxic effects on animal growth, development, reproduction, immunity, neurology, and genetics. This study employed marine medaka (Oryzias melastigma) as the experimental model to evaluate the toxicological impacts of BPAF on early development. Embryos were exposed to four BPAF concentrations (0, 1 μg/L, 10 μg/L, and 100 μg/L) for 14 days (embryonic to larval stages), followed by phenotypic measurements, behavioral analysis, and gene expression detection. The results demonstrated that BPAF exposure induced developmental malformations and reduced survival rates in marine medaka embryos, with embryo survival negatively correlated with BPAF concentrations. Additionally, BPAF significantly decreased embryonic heart rates, and the 100 μg/L BPAF group exhibited prolonged embryo hatching time and reduced hatching success. In newly hatched larvae, BPAF exposure led to decreased body length, reduced heart rates, and significant suppression of swimming activity, characterized by increased resting time and reduced swimming distance. BPAF exposure altered the expression levels of genes associated with cardiovascular function (e.g., tbx2b, arnt2), the HPT axis (e.g., tg, dio3a, trh, trhr2, tpo), and neurodevelopment (e.g., ache, elavl3, gfap) in the medaka larvae. These transcriptional perturbations are proposed as potential molecular mechanisms underlying the observed phenotypic effects, including reduced heart rates and suppressed swimming behavior in the study. Molecularly, BPAF exposure significantly disrupted the expression of genes related to the cardiovascular system, HPT axis, and nervous system. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Neurological and Endocrine Impacts of Pollutants on Aquatic Organisms)
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