Davis Daniel D, Diaz-Castillo Carlos, Chamorro-Garcia Raquel
Department of Microbiology and Environmental Toxicology, University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, United States.
Front Toxicol. 2022 Aug 19;4:902201. doi: 10.3389/ftox.2022.902201. eCollection 2022.
It has been long known that the environment plays a critical role in the etiology of disease. However, it is still unclear how the large variety of environmental factors humans are exposed to interact with each other to lead to disease. Metabolic disorders are just one example of human disorders that have been associated with environmental exposures. Obesity and type 2 diabetes have become a health and economic burden worldwide as the number of affected people has tripled in the last 40 years. Animal and human studies have shown a strong association between exposure to environmental chemicals during critical windows of susceptibility such as periconception, prenatal, and early life, whose effect can persist through development and across generations. However, little is known about the mechanisms driving this persistence. Here, we review historical and current knowledge on the effect of exposure to environmental factors during development and discuss mechanisms for these disorders to be propagated across generations.
长期以来，人们都知道环境在疾病病因中起着关键作用。然而，目前仍不清楚人类接触的各种各样的环境因素是如何相互作用导致疾病的。代谢紊乱只是与环境暴露相关的人类疾病的一个例子。肥胖症和2型糖尿病已成为全球范围内的健康和经济负担，因为在过去40年中，受影响人群的数量增加了两倍。动物和人体研究表明，在关键的易感性窗口期，如围孕期、孕期和生命早期接触环境化学物质之间存在密切关联，其影响可贯穿发育过程并代代相传。然而，对于导致这种持续性的机制却知之甚少。在此，我们回顾了关于发育过程中接触环境因素影响的历史和当前知识，并讨论了这些疾病代代相传的机制。
