TITLE:
Environmental and Occupational Exposures, Organ Toxicity and Biomarkers
AUTHORS:
Ruiqi Huo
KEYWORDS:
Environmental Pollutants, Occupational Dust, Organ Toxicity, Biomarkers, Oxidative Stress, Inflammation
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Biosciences and Medicines,
Vol.14 No.5,
May
29,
2026
ABSTRACT: Environmental and occupational pollutants represent a persistent threat to global public health, contributing substantially to the global burden of non-communicable diseases. These diverse agents—including heavy metals, particulate matter, and emerging contaminants—frequently converge on a core set of toxic mechanisms, most notably oxidative stress, inflammation, mitochondrial dysfunction, apoptosis, and dysregulated autophagy. The resulting multi-organ toxicity, affecting the pulmonary, nervous, hepatic, and renal systems, underscores the need for early and reliable detection of biological effects. This review synthesizes current knowledge on typical environmental and occupational toxicants, their mechanisms of action across different organ systems, and the evolving landscape of early effect biomarkers. We critically evaluate exposure assessment methodologies and key epidemiological evidence, including dose-response relationships. Finally, we discuss prevention strategies, current research challenges, and future directions, emphasizing the potential of high-throughput detection and multi-omics approaches to transform exposure surveillance and targeted intervention.