Cadmium Pollution and Occupational Exposure

A special issue of Toxics (ISSN 2305-6304). This special issue belongs to the section "Human Toxicology and Epidemiology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 26 September 2025 | Viewed by 2467

Special Issue Editor


E-Mail Website1 Website2
Guest Editor
Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan
Interests: environmental medicine; occupational health; cadmium; epidemiplogy; exposure
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The renal and bone effects of cadmium exposure are well known, and there are also concerns about carcinogeneniety and life prognosis. The main sources of exposure to cadmium are in occupations, e.g., battery manufacturing, alloys, and plating industries, and in the general environment, e.g., food and smoking. The health effects of cadmium exposure are a global concern and remain an issue for many researchers.

This Special Issue is open to any subject area related to environmental and occupational exposure and the health effects of cadmium.

Prof. Dr. Yasushi Suwazono
Guest Editor

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

  • cadmium
  • environmental exposure
  • general population
  • occupational medicine
  • renal effect
  • mortality

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 (2 papers)

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

Research

21 pages, 5031 KiB  
Article
Toxicological Effects of Combined Exposure of Cadmium and Enrofloxacin on Zebrafish
by Lingfei Ren, Yu He, Chao Hou, Chaoxuan Liao and Miao Chen
Toxics 2025, 13(5), 378; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxics13050378 - 7 May 2025
Viewed by 191
Abstract
The combined pollution of cadmium (Cd) and enrofloxacin (ENR) in aquatic environments represents a critical issue in environmental toxicology. Using zebrafish as model organisms, we systematically investigated the combined toxicity of Cd and ENR through both acute (96-h) and chronic (20-d) exposure experiments. [...] Read more.
The combined pollution of cadmium (Cd) and enrofloxacin (ENR) in aquatic environments represents a critical issue in environmental toxicology. Using zebrafish as model organisms, we systematically investigated the combined toxicity of Cd and ENR through both acute (96-h) and chronic (20-d) exposure experiments. Our results demonstrated significant synergistic effects: co-exposure reduced the 96-h LC50 values from 89.12 mg/L (Cd alone) and 190.11 mg/L (ENR alone) to 46.35 mg/L and 99.39 mg/L, respectively (combined effect index = 0.96). Chronic exposure revealed that ENR enhanced Cd accumulation in the liver, intestine, and muscle tissues by 1.11–2.33-fold compared to single Cd exposure. Oxidative stress markers showed dynamic temporal changes, with superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), and catalase (CAT) activities initially increasing by 1.34–7.06-fold, 0.98–3.28-fold, and 1.53–3.65-fold at 8 d, respectively, followed by 9.9–48.98% reductions after 20 d of exposure. Malondialdehyde (MDA) levels progressively accumulated, reaching up to 4.06-fold higher than controls. Notably, co-exposure elevated oxidative stress by 11.24–34.48% relative to single exposures. The 16S rDNA sequencing analysis indicated that Cd exposure significantly reduced the α-diversity of zebrafish gut microbiota (57–63% decrease in Shannon index), characterized by a 16–20% reduction in beneficial Cetobacterium and a 44–114% increase in pathogenic Aeromonas abundance. The combined exposure further exacerbated these gut microbiota dysbiosis patterns. These findings provide crucial evidence for ecological risk assessment, suggesting that current environmental standards based on single-pollutant evaluations may substantially underestimate the actual risks of heavy metal-antibiotic co-contamination in aquatic ecosystems. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Cadmium Pollution and Occupational Exposure)
Show Figures

Figure 1

9 pages, 440 KiB  
Article
Benchmark Dose of Urinary Cadmium for Assessing Renal Tubular and Glomerular Function in a Cadmium-Polluted Area of Japan
by Takuya Hayashi, Kazuhiro Nogawa, Yuuka Watanabe, Teruhiko Kido, Masaru Sakurai, Hideaki Nakagawa and Yasushi Suwazono
Toxics 2024, 12(12), 836; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxics12120836 - 21 Nov 2024
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1823
Abstract
The aim of the present study was to apply an updated benchmark dose (BMD) approach to estimate reference urinary cadmium (U-Cd) for renal tubular and glomerular effects. This cross-sectional survey was conducted 30 years ago in 30 men and 44 women living in [...] Read more.
The aim of the present study was to apply an updated benchmark dose (BMD) approach to estimate reference urinary cadmium (U-Cd) for renal tubular and glomerular effects. This cross-sectional survey was conducted 30 years ago in 30 men and 44 women living in a Cd-polluted area and in 18 men and 18 women living in a non-polluted area. We applied an updated hybrid approach to estimate the BMDs and 95% lower confidence limits (BMDLs) of U-Cd for creatinine (Cr) clearance (CrCl), estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), β2-microglobulin (β2-MG), and β2-MG tubular reabsorption (%TRβ2-MG). Using a benchmark response (BMR) of 5%, we estimated the BMDLs of U-Cd for adverse renal effect markers to be 2.9 (eGFR), 1.8 (β2-MG), 1.8 (%TRβ2-MG < 95%), and 3.6 μg/g Cr (%TRβ2-MG < 90%) in men, and 3.5 (CrCl), 2.5 (β2-MG), 2.6 (%TRβ2-MG < 95%), and 3.9 μg/g Cr (%TRβ2-MG < 90%) in women. The obtained BMDLs for tubular effects were 1.8–3.6 µg/g Cr and for glomerular effects were 2.9–3.5 µg/g Cr; these are not very high compared to the exposure levels in the general population. The BMDLs calculated in this study provide important information for measures regarding protecting general inhabitants or workers from the adverse health effects of Cd exposure. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Cadmium Pollution and Occupational Exposure)
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop