Special Issue "Current Knowledge of Early-Life Exposure to Toxic Metal(loid)s"

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2021.

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Miyuki Iwai-Shimada
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Guest Editor
Center for Health and Environmental Risk Research, National Institute for Environmental Studies, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8506, Japan
Interests: toxic metals and essential elements; child health; exposome; placental transfer
Dr. Srujana Kola-Golla
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Guest Editor
Department of Environmental Medicine and Public Health, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, USA
Interests: environmental exposures; endogenous biomarkers; molecular mechanisms; metarnal–fetal interactions; congenital birth defects

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Toxic metal(loid)s are naturally occurring elements; their multiple industrial, domestic, medical, and technological applications have led to their wide distribution in the environment. Toxic metals have no known benefit for human physiology (e.g., lead, mercury, cadmium), otherwise, both excessive intake and low blood levels of essential trace elements have been associated with adverse effects (e.g., zinc, copper, iron, manganese). We are exposed to them through water, air, food, house dust, and/or soil.  In this Special Issue, we focus on the growing worldwide concern surrounding exposure to toxic metal(loid)s especially concerning vulnerable people (fetus, neonate, infant and child), and on the knowledge about exposure source, pharmacokinetics/toxicokinetics, biomarkers such as metalloproteins and the long-term exposure history/trajectories.

The aim of this Special Issue in Toxics, entitled “Current Knowledge of Early-Life Exposure to Toxic Metal(loid)s”, is to highlight timely research addressing scientific, methodological, and epidemiological studies, human biomonitoring, and animal studies.

Studies may include, but are not limited to, original articles, expert reviews and short communications, aimed at advancing scientific knowledge of the early lifetime exposure of toxic metal(loid)s. Authors are invited and welcome to submit original research papers, reviews, and short communications.

Dr. Miyuki Iwai-Shimada
Dr. Srujana Kola-Golla
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 papers will be 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 1600 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

  • toxic metals (metalloids)
  • essential elements
  • placental transfer
  • early-life exposure
  • human biomonitoring
  • exposure source
  • exposome

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

Article
Comparison of Simultaneous Quantitative Analysis of Methylmercury and Inorganic Mercury in Cord Blood Using LC-ICP-MS and LC-CVAFS: The Pilot Study of the Japan Environment and Children’s Study
Toxics 2021, 9(4), 82; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxics9040082 - 09 Apr 2021
Viewed by 819
Abstract
Prenatal exposure to methylmercury (MeHg) affects child development after birth. However, many epidemiological studies have evaluated total mercury levels without analyzing speciation. Biomonitoring of MeHg and inorganic mercury (IHg) is essential to reveal each exposure level. In this study, we compared a high-throughput [...] Read more.
Prenatal exposure to methylmercury (MeHg) affects child development after birth. However, many epidemiological studies have evaluated total mercury levels without analyzing speciation. Biomonitoring of MeHg and inorganic mercury (IHg) is essential to reveal each exposure level. In this study, we compared a high-throughput analysis for mercury speciation in blood using liquid chromatography-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LC-ICP-MS) and liquid chromatography-cold vapor atomic fluorescence spectrometry (LC-CVAFS). The validated LC-ICP-MS method was applied to 101 maternal blood and 366 cord blood samples in the pilot study of the Japan Environment and Children’s Study (JECS). The accuracy of the LC-CVAFS method ranged 90–115% determined by reference material analysis. To evaluate the reliability of 366 cord blood samples, fifty cord blood samples were randomly selected and analyzed using LC-CVAFS. The median (5th–95th percentile) concentrations of MeHg and IHg were 5.4 (1.9–15) and 0.33 (0.12–0.86) ng/mL, respectively, in maternal blood, and 6.3 (2.5–15) and 0.21 (0.08–0.49) ng/mL, respectively, in cord blood. Inter-laboratory comparison showed a relatively good agreement between LC-ICP-MS and LC-CVAFS. The median cord blood:maternal blood ratios of MeHg and IHg were 1.3 and 0.5, respectively. By analyzing speciation, we could focus on the health effects of each chemical form. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Current Knowledge of Early-Life Exposure to Toxic Metal(loid)s)
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Planned Papers

The below list represents only planned manuscripts. Some of these manuscripts have not been received by the Editorial Office yet. Papers submitted to MDPI journals are subject to peer-review.

Title: Association between daily lead intake and blood lead levels among pregnant women in Japan: an adjunct study of the Japan Environment and Children’s Study
Authors: Chaochen Ma, Miyuki Iwai-Shimada, Shoji F. Nakayama, the Japan Environment and Children’s Study Group
Affiliation: Center for Health and Environmental Risk Research, National Institute for Environmental Studies, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8506, Japan
Abstract: Lead is a ubiquitous toxicant that is especially harmful to pregnant women and infants. Although there are studies describing the relationship between daily lead intake and blood lead levels during pregnancy, most of them only relied on data on diet. However, it has been suggested that people are exposed to lead through multiple sources. Therefore, we estimated the daily lead intake from diet, soil, indoor air, and house dust in Japanese women during pregnancy. Furthermore, we assessed the relationship between overall daily intake of lead and blood lead levels during pregnancy and postpartum.

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