Prenatal Exposure to Environmental Pollutants: Effects on Fetal Development, Birth Outcomes and Children’s Health

Dear Colleagues,

The Barker Hypothesis and the concept of the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD) provide the theoretical foundation for our current understanding that adverse effects early in development, including prenatal development, can have profound impacts on lifelong health. This not only includes nutritional deficiencies and excesses but also exposure to a variety of environmental pollutants. Prenatal exposures are especially concerning because of the rapid development and growth and increased sensitivity and vulnerability of the developing fetus. Prenatal exposure to heavy metals, organic chemicals and compounds, and pesticides can disrupt processes involved in cellular and organ development, affecting a host of maternal–child adverse health concerns including cardiovascular, metabolic, neurological, respiratory, and reproductive outcomes. Environmental pollutants may act on molecular pathways, disrupting normal function as signaling chemicals such as hormones, or may interact with non-chemical stressors, impacting prenatal health and birth outcomes.

This Special Issue focuses on our current understanding as well as gaps in our knowledge and evidence base with respect to prenatal exposure to environmental pollutants and their adverse effects on fetal development, birth outcomes, and children’s health. The Special Issue will feature scienctific advances across the research continuum.

Prof. Dr. Jeffrey K. Wickliffe
Prof. Dr. Maureen Y. Lichtveld
Dr. Hannah H. Covert
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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

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-anonymized 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.