Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
Toxicol Sci. 2013 Jul;134(1):1-17. doi: 10.1093/toxsci/kft102. Epub 2013 Apr 29.
Enormous strides have recently been made in our understanding of the biology and pathobiology of mitochondria. Many diseases have been identified as caused by mitochondrial dysfunction, and many pharmaceuticals have been identified as previously unrecognized mitochondrial toxicants. A much smaller but growing literature indicates that mitochondria are also targeted by environmental pollutants. We briefly review the importance of mitochondrial function and maintenance for health based on the genetics of mitochondrial diseases and the toxicities resulting from pharmaceutical exposure. We then discuss how the principles of mitochondrial vulnerability illustrated by those fields might apply to environmental contaminants, with particular attention to factors that may modulate vulnerability including genetic differences, epigenetic interactions, tissue characteristics, and developmental stage. Finally, we review the literature related to environmental mitochondrial toxicants, with a particular focus on those toxicants that target mitochondrial DNA. We conclude that the fields of environmental toxicology and environmental health should focus more strongly on mitochondria.
近年来，我们对线粒体的生物学和病理生物学有了深入的了解。许多疾病被认为是由线粒体功能障碍引起的，许多药物也被认为是以前未被识别的线粒体毒物。尽管数量较少，但越来越多的文献表明，线粒体也会受到环境污染物的影响。我们简要回顾了线粒体功能和维持对健康的重要性，这是基于线粒体疾病的遗传学和药物暴露所导致的毒性。然后，我们讨论了那些领域中展示的线粒体脆弱性原则如何适用于环境污染物，特别关注可能调节脆弱性的因素，包括遗传差异、表观遗传相互作用、组织特征和发育阶段。最后，我们回顾了与环境线粒体毒物相关的文献，特别关注那些针对线粒体 DNA 的毒物。我们的结论是，环境毒理学和环境卫生领域应该更加关注线粒体。
