Guest Editors
Hans-Uwe Dahms, Ph.D., Kaohsiung Medical University
Mei-Fang Cho, Ph.D., Southern Taiwan University of Technology and Science
Summary
The present special issue focuses on adverse developmental effects resulting from exposure to toxic agents on gametes before conception, during prenatal development (teratogens), or post-natally until puberty. Typical factors causing reproductive/ developmental toxicity can be physical (e.g. radiation), viral and bacterial infections, or chemical: maternal metabolic imbalances (e.g. alcohol, diabetes, folic acid deficiency), drugs (e.g. anticancer drugs, antibiotics, some hormones), and environmental chemicals (e.g. mercury, lead, dioxin, organ chloride, tobacco smoke). The effects of a toxic agent depend on its type, dose and duration and time of exposure. An evaluation of different data (in silico, in vitro, in vivo) documents health and environmental relevance of experimental data and will identify knowledge gaps. It generates networks of molecular and cellular reactions which are causally linked to adverse outcomes of regulatory importance based on weight of scientific evidence. We will summarize the currently known adverse outcome pathways (AOPs) reproductive and developmental toxicity and molecular initiating events (MIE) including spermatogenesis, embryonic vascular disruption, axial malformations, epigenetic and endocrine disruption, and developmental neurotoxicity. The currently available AOPs cover only a limited range of potential reproductive and developmental disorders, restricting the generation of AOP networks. Further efforts are needed to develop AOPs, especially for AOs with causal links to chemical exposure.
This Special Issue aims to collect original research and review articles regarding research into reproductive and developmental effects of environmental or pharmaceutical toxicants.
Potential topics include but are not limited to the following:
▪ Biomarkers targeting reproductive/ developmental toxicity
▪ Mutagenicity evaluations at gamete and soma cell levels
▪ Proteomic profiles in developmental toxicity
▪ AOPs in reproductive/ developmental toxicity
▪ Functional foods for suppressing AOPs of toxicants in development
▪ Prospects and paradigms of model organisms
▪ Role of stem cells in reproductive/ developmental toxicity evaluations
▪ Role of reproductive/ developmental toxicity in higher education
▪ Synergistic effects of toxicants in development
Keywords
Developmental Toxicity, Adverse Outcome Pathway (AOP), Molecular Initiating Event (MIE), Omics, Gametes, Cell Development, Cell Differentiation, Stem Cells, Cell Culture, Mutation, Embryogenesis, Teratogenesis, Cancerogenesis.
Published Papers
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