Kurita Hisaka, Ohuchi Kazuki, Inden Masatoshi
Laboratory of Medical Therapeutics and Molecular Therapeutics, Gifu Pharmaceutical University, 1-25-4 Daigaku-nishi, Gifu 501-1196, Japan.
Toxics. 2025 Feb 27;13(3):167. doi: 10.3390/toxics13030167.
We are exposed to a variety of environmental chemicals in our daily lives. It is possible that the effects of this daily chemical exposure could accumulate in the organism in some form and influence health and disease development. The exposure effects extend throughout the human lifetime, not only after birth, but also during the embryonic period. Epigenetics is an important target for the molecular mechanisms of daily environmental chemical effects. Epigenetics is a mechanism of gene transcription regulation that does not involve changes in DNA sequence. The Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD) theory has also been proposed, in which effects such as exposure to environmental chemicals during embryonic period are mediated by epigenetic changes, which may lead to risk for disease development and adverse health effects after maturity. This review summarizes the association between embryonic exposure and the epigenetics of well-known non-essential toxic heavy metals (methylmercury, cadmium, arsenic, and lead), a representative group of environmental chemicals. In the future, it will be important to predict the epigenetic mechanisms of unknown chemical and combined exposures. In addition, further experimental investigations using experimental animals and the accumulation of knowledge are needed to study the transgenerational effects of environmental chemicals in the future.
在日常生活中，我们会接触到各种各样的环境化学物质。这种日常化学物质暴露的影响有可能以某种形式在生物体内累积，并影响健康和疾病发展。暴露影响贯穿人类一生，不仅在出生后，在胚胎期也会产生影响。表观遗传学是日常环境化学物质作用分子机制的一个重要靶点。表观遗传学是一种基因转录调控机制，不涉及DNA序列的改变。健康与疾病的发育起源（DOHaD）理论也已被提出，其中胚胎期暴露于环境化学物质等影响是由表观遗传变化介导的，这可能导致成年后疾病发展风险和不良健康影响。本综述总结了胚胎暴露与著名的非必需有毒重金属（甲基汞、镉、砷和铅）（一组具有代表性的环境化学物质）表观遗传学之间的关联。未来，预测未知化学物质和联合暴露的表观遗传机制将很重要。此外，未来还需要使用实验动物进行进一步的实验研究并积累知识，以研究环境化学物质的跨代影响。
