Exposure to crude oil during spill events causes a variety of pathologic effects in birds, including oxidative injury to erythrocytes, which is characterized in some species by the formation of Heinz bodies and subsequent anemia. However, not all species appear to develop Heinz bodies or anemia when exposed to oil, and there are limited controlled experiments that use both light and electron microscopy to evaluate structural changes within erythrocytes following oil exposure. In this study, we orally dosed zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) with 3.3 or 10 mL/kg of artificially weathered Deepwater Horizon crude oil or 10 mL/kg of peanut oil (vehicle control) daily for 15 days. We found that birds receiving the highest dosage experienced a significant increase in reticulocyte percentage, mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration, and liver mass, as well as inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract and lymphocyte proliferation in the spleen. However, we found no evidence of Heinz body formation based on both light and transmission electron microscopy. Although there was a tendency for packed cell volume and hemoglobin to decrease in birds from the high dose group compared to control and low dose groups, the changes were not statistically significant. Our results indicate that additional experimental dosing studies are needed to understand factors (e.g., dose- and species-specific sensitivity) and confounding variables (e.g., dispersants) that contribute to the presence and severity of anemia resulting from oil exposure in birds.

The frequency and duration of exposure to acrylamide (AA) from the environment and diet are associated with a range of adverse health effects. However, whether long-term AA exposure is related to diabetes mellitus (DM) remains unknown. Data from 3577 adults in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2005–2006 and 2013–2016 aged ≥ 20 years was analysed. The main analyses applied multivariate logistic regression and restricted cubic spline models to investigate the associations between DM and AA haemoglobin biomarkers, including haemoglobin adducts of acrylamide and glycidamide (HbAA and HbGA), the sum of HbAA and HbGA (HbAA + HbGA), and the ratio of HbGA to HbAA (HbGA/HbAA) levels. After multivariable adjustment, the odds ratios (95% confidence intervals) for DM comparing the highest with the lowest AA haemoglobin biomarker quartiles were 0.71 (0.55, 0.93), 0.92 (0.71, 1.18), 0.80 (0.62, 1.03) and 1.95 (1.51, 2.51) for HbAA, HbGA, HbAA + HbGA and HbGA/HbAA, respectively. The restricted cubic spline model demonstrated that HbAA was linearly and inversely associated with risk of DM (P for trend = 0.013), while HbGA/HbAA was nonlinearly and positively associated with the prevalence of DM (P for trend <0.001). These results support for epidemiological evidence that the HbAA and HbGA/HbAA are significantly associated with DM. Further studies are warranted to infer the causal role of AA exposure in the prevalence of DM.

While Cox17 functions importantly in copper metalation of cytochrome c oxidase and integral mitochondrial architecture in vertebrates, rare studies have been performed regarding the developmental and physiological characters of vertebrate cox17 mutants. In this study, normal-like developmental phenotype was observed in both cox17Δ6−/− and cox17Δ4−/− homozygous zebrafish mutants, while gene ontology term and pathway analysis of the differentially expressed genes in both mutants showed enrichment in oxidoreductase activity, ion transport, histone methylation, MICOS complex, Wnt signaling, etc. This implied the occurrence of damage to the integral function of Cox17 and change of transcriptomes in the two mutants. Further qRT-PCR and WISH assays revealed the down-regulated expression of Wnt signaling and reduced expression of swim bladder marker genes in the two mutants. Moreover, copper stimulation induced no obvious increase in reactive oxygen species (ROS) or in the expression of hemoglobin marker genes, but further reduced the expression of swim bladder marker genes in the mutants. The integral data in this study suggest that: (1) cox17 mutants cannot activate the response of oxidoreductase to copper stimulation; (2) copper depends on the integral function of Cox17 to induce developmental defects in hemoglobin rather than swim bladder and (3) Wnt signaling but not ROS might mediate copper-induced swim bladder developmental defects in fish.

A prospective cohort study of a Chinese population was conducted to investigate the relationship between prenatal phthalates exposure and maternal hemoglobin or anemia. Based on the Ma'anshan Birth Cohort study, 7 phthalate metabolites were quantified in spot pregnancy urine samples (n = 9263) from 3269 pregnant women during each trimester. The maternal hemoglobin concentrations were obtained from electronic medical records at the same three time points for each participant during pregnancy. Anemia was defined as a hemoglobin concentration below 110 g/L in pregnant women. Repeated measures and trimester-specific analyses were used to estimate the effects of phthalates exposure on maternal hemoglobin and anemia. The prevalence of anemia was 3.6%, 27.0%, and 26.5% during the first, second and third trimester, respectively. Repeated measures analysis showed that hemoglobin concentrations decreased by 0.55, 0.19, 0.57, 0.49, and 0.54 g/L with each 1 ln-transformed concentration increase of MBP, MBzP, MEHP, MEOHP, and MEHHP, respectively. Exposure to MMP, MBP, MEHP, MEOHP, and MEHHP increased the risk of anemia by 1.11-fold, 1.21-fold, 1.20-fold, 1.13-fold, and 1.16-fold, respectively. Trimester-specific regression models stratified by the sample collection time during pregnancy generated consistent results. This is the first study focusing on the effect of prenatal phthalate exposures on hemoglobin or anemia in pregnant Chinese women. We found that prenatal phthalates exposure not only decreased the concentrations of hemoglobin but also showed associations with the prevalence of anemia. Associations appeared stronger for the subsample representing women pregnant with a male fetus than those pregnant with a female fetus. Anemia remains a moderate public health problem in China, and effective measures should be implemented.

The experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of Cadmium (Cd) on growth performance, blood biochemical parameters, oxidative stress, hepatocyte apoptosis and autophagy of weaned piglets. A total of 12 healthy weaned piglets were randomly assigned to the control and the Cd group, which were fed with a basal diet and the basal diet supplemented with 15 ± 0.242 mg/kg CdCl₂ for 30 d, respectively. Our results demonstrated that Cd significantly decreased final body weight, average daily feed intake (ADFI), average daily gain (ADG) and increased feed-to-gain (F/G) ratio (P < 0.05). For blood biochemical parameters, Cd treatment significantly decreased the red blood cell (RBC), hemoglobin (HGB), hematocrit (HCT), total protein, albumin, copper content and iron content (P < 0.05). In addition, liver injury was observed in the Cd-exposed group. Our results also demonstrated that Cd exposure contributed to the production of ROS, activated the AMPK/PPAR-γ/NF-κB pathway (increasing the expressions of P-AMPK/AMPK, NF-κB, I-κB-β, COX-2, and iNOS, decreasing the expressions of PPAR-γ and I-κB-α), finally induced autophagy (increasing the expressions of Beclin-1, the ratio of LC3-II/LC3-I and p62), and apoptosis (increasing the expressions of Bax, Bak, Caspase-9, and Caspase-3, decreasing the expression of Bcl-2). Overall, these findings revealed the vital role of AMPK/PPAR-γ/NF-κB pathway in Cd-induced liver apoptosis and autophagy, which provided deeper insights into a better understanding of Cd-induced hepatotoxicity.

Data (N = 11251) from National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) for 2003–2016 for US adults aged ≥20 years were stratified by gender and anemia and analyzed to evaluate the associations between the concentrations of whole blood hemoglobin (WBHGB) and selected perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs) in serum by stages of glomerular filtration (GF). Investigated PFAAs were perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS), perfluorodecanoic acid (PFDA), perfluorohexane sulfonic acid (PFHxS), and perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA). Females with whole blood hemoglobin concentrations <12 g/dL and males with whole blood hemoglobin concentrations <13 g/dL were classified as being anemic. Regression models with log10 transformed concentrations of whole blood hemoglobin as dependent variable and age, poverty income ratio, body mass index, serum cotinine, daily alcohol intake, survey year, and log10 concentrations of one of the PFAA as independent variables were fitted. For anemic females, association between WBHGB and PFAA concentrations were uniformly positive across worsening stages of renal failure and percent increases for 10% increases in PFAAs varied between 0.03% and 0.39%. For anemic males, association between WBHGB and PFAA concentrations were positive except at GF-3A (45 ≤ eGFR<60 mL/min/1.73 m²) and percent increases for 10% increases in PFAAs varied between 0.02% and 0.53%. Thus, more often than not, presence of positive associations between WBHGB and PFAA among anemics imply elevated levels of PFAA are associated with higher levels of WBHGB. Similar results were observed for non-anemic males and females, however strengths of associations between whole blood hemoglobin and PFAAs were several fold higher among anemic compared to non-anemic participants. Hemoglobin is consistently associated with serum PFAAs.

Hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) is a plant-based chemical building block that could potentially substitute petroleum-based equivalents, yet ecotoxicological data of this compound is currently limited. In this study, the effects of HMF on the reproduction and survival of Daphnia magna were assessed through validated ecotoxicological tests. The mechanism of toxicity was determined by analysis of transcriptomic responses induced by exposure to different concentrations of HMF using RNA sequencing. HMF exerted toxicity to D. magna with an EC₅₀ for effects on reproduction of 17.2 mg/l. HMF exposure affected molecular pathways including sugar and polysaccharide metabolism, lipid metabolism, general stress metabolism and red blood cell metabolism, although most molecular pathways affected by HMF exposure were dose specific. Hemoglobin genes, however, responded in a sensitive and dose-related manner. No induction of genes involved in the xenobiotic metabolism or oxidative stress metabolism pathway could be observed, which contrasted earlier observations on transcriptional responses of the terrestrial model Folsomia candida exposed to the same compound in a similar dose. We found 4189 orthologue genes between D. magna and F. candida, yet only twenty-one genes of those orthologues were co-regulated in both species. The contrasting transcriptional responses to the same compound exposed at a similar dose between D. magna and F. candida indicates limited overlap in stress responses among soil and aquatic invertebrates. The dose-related expression of hemoglobin provides further support for using hemoglobin expression as a biomarker for general stress responses in daphnids.

Blood lead (Pb) and cadmium (Cd) levels have been associated with lower lung function in adults and smokers, but whether this also holds for children from electronic waste (e-waste) recycling areas is still unknown. To investigate the contribution of blood heavy metals and lung function levels, and the relationship among living area, the blood parameter levels, and the lung function levels, a total of 206 preschool children from Guiyu (exposed area), and Haojiang and Xiashan (reference areas) were recruited and required to undergo blood tests and lung function tests during the study period. Preschool children living in e-waste exposed areas were found to have a 1.37 μg/dL increase in blood Pb, 1.18 μg/L increase in blood Cd, and a 41.00 × 109/L increase in platelet counts, while having a 2.82 g/L decrease in hemoglobin, 92 mL decrease in FVC and 86 mL decrease in FEV1. Each unit of hemoglobin (1 g/L) decline was associated with 5 mL decrease in FVC and 4 mL decrease in FEV1. We conclude that children living in e-waste exposed area have higher levels of blood Pb, Cd and platelets, and lower levels of hemoglobin and lung function. Hemoglobin can be a good predictor for lung function levels.

The complex QDs-Indolicidin (QDs-Ind) has been previously shown to be a good antimicrobial system with a low acute toxicity on Daphnia magna (D. magna). However, multigenerational effects caused by exposure to QDs-Ind and after subsequent recovery are still unknown. In this study, we performed multigenerational exposure tests and we evaluated individual fitness, population growth, DNA alteration, expression of Dhb (haemoglobin), Vtg (vitellogenin), CYP4 (cytochrome P450s CYP4 family), and CYP314 (cytochrome P450s mitochondrial family 314) genes on three generation of D. magna. Results showed that the total amount of eggs produced per female and total number of brood per female and body lengths were significantly decreased, Dhb, CYP4 were upregulated while Vtg was down-regulated except at reproduction days when it was slightly up-regulated under QDs-Ind exposure. Random Amplification of Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) method has proven to be useful to qualitative assess of DNA damage during generation and to underline modification in somatic or germinal cells. The results of the study suggest that effects of chronic exposure cannot be ignored.

Exposure to lead (Pb) is still rising concern worldwide, having in mind that even low-dose exposure can induce various harmful effects. Thus, in-depth knowledge of the targets of Pb toxicity and corresponding mechanisms is essential. In the presented study, the six groups (male Wistar rats, n = 6) received 0.1; 0.5; 1; 3; 7; 15 mg Pb/kg body weight/day for 28 days, each day by oral gavage, while the control group received distilled water only. All animals were sacrificed 24 h after the treatment, and blood was collected for the analysis of hematological, biochemical, oxidative status and essential elements levels. An external and internal dose-response relationship was performed using PROASTweb 70.1 software. The results showed that low doses of Pb affect hematological parameters and lipid profile after 28 days. The possible mechanisms at examined Pb dose levels were a decrease in SOD, O₂•⁻ and Cu and an increase in Zn levels. The dose-dependent nature of changes in cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, O₂.⁻, SOD, AOPP in serum and hemoglobin, Fe, Zn, Cu in blood were obtained in this study. The most sensitive parameters that were alerted are Cu blood levels (BMDL₅: 1.4 ng/kg b.w./day) and SOD activity (BMDL₅: 0.5 μg/kg b.w./day). The presented results provide information that may be useful in further assessing the health risks of low-level Pb exposure.