Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

Non-Classical Aspects of Obesity Pathogenesis and Their Relative Clinical Importance for Obesity Treatment

This review examines non-classical factors contributing to obesity beyond diet and exercise, including endocrine-disrupting chemicals, sleep quality, psychotropic medications, and light exposure at night, clarifying their clinical relevance for obesity prevention and treatment.

2023 Healthcare 6 citations
Article Tier 2

Nanoplastics as Epigenetic Disruptors: A Biochemical Review of Environmental Pollutants and Gene Regulation

This biochemical review examined how nanoplastics disrupt epigenetic regulation, focusing on their ability to alter DNA methylation patterns, histone modifications, and non-coding RNA expression. The authors argued that nanoplastic-induced epigenetic changes could have lasting developmental and health consequences, especially during vulnerable life stages.

2025 OICC Press Journals
Article Tier 2

Epigenetic Mechanisms in Aging: Extrinsic Factors and Gut Microbiome

This review explores how external environmental factors and the gut microbiome influence epigenetic changes associated with aging. Researchers found that gut bacteria can modify host gene expression through histone and DNA modifications, with microbial metabolites playing an underexplored role. The study highlights the need for further research into how environmental exposures, including pollutants, may affect aging through gut-mediated epigenetic mechanisms.

2024 Genes 19 citations
Article Tier 2

Beyond genetics: can micro and nanoplastics induce epigenetic and gene-expression modifications?

This review gathers existing research on whether micro and nanoplastics can cause epigenetic changes, which are modifications that alter how genes work without changing the DNA itself. Although studies are still limited, the evidence so far shows that both short-term and long-term plastic particle exposure can trigger these gene-level changes in various organisms. This is concerning because epigenetic changes can potentially be passed to future generations and may contribute to disease.

2023 Frontiers in Epigenetics and Epigenomics 33 citations
Article Tier 2

Environmental Xenobiotics and Epigenetic Modifications: Implications for Human Health and Disease

This review examines how environmental pollutants, including microplastics, can change gene activity through epigenetic modifications without altering DNA itself. These changes to how genes are turned on and off can contribute to cancer, brain diseases, and developmental problems, and may even be passed down to future generations. The research highlights that microplastics and other common pollutants could have long-lasting health effects that go beyond direct chemical toxicity.

2025 Journal of Xenobiotics 5 citations
Article Tier 2

Immune–Epigenetic Effects of Environmental Pollutants: Mechanisms, Biomarkers, and Transgenerational Impact

This review examines how environmental pollutants, including microplastics, heavy metals, and endocrine-disrupting chemicals, can alter immune function through epigenetic changes that modify gene expression without changing DNA itself. Researchers identified common molecular pathways through which these pollutants trigger inflammation and immune disruption. The study also highlights evidence that some of these epigenetic changes may be passed to future generations.

2025 Current Issues in Molecular Biology 4 citations
Article Tier 2

Epigenetic mechanisms of particulate matter exposure: air pollution and hazards on human health

This review examines how breathing in particulate matter from air pollution -- which can include microplastic particles -- causes lasting health damage through epigenetic changes, meaning it alters how genes are turned on and off without changing the DNA itself. These changes have been linked to cancer, lung scarring, brain diseases, and metabolic disorders. The findings suggest that airborne microplastics could contribute to disease through similar epigenetic mechanisms.

2024 Frontiers in Genetics 39 citations
Article Tier 2

Epigenetic regulation of pulmonary inflammation

Researchers reviewed how environmental exposures drive epigenetic changes — including DNA methylation, histone modifications, and non-coding RNA transfers via extracellular vesicles — that promote chronic lung diseases such as COPD, asthma, and pulmonary fibrosis, while also identifying these same epigenetic pathways as promising therapeutic targets.

2023 Seminars in Cell and Developmental Biology 17 citations
Article Tier 2

Food, Agriculture, Environment and Chronic non-communicable diseases: How are they connected?

This review examined the connections between modern diet, agricultural practices, and the rise of chronic non-communicable diseases, arguing that environmental changes since industrialization — including chemical pollutants, microplastics, and nutrient-depleted food systems — have outpaced evolutionary adaptation. The authors called for a food systems approach to reducing chronic disease burden.

2025 Journal of Biomedical Research & Environmental Sciences
Article Tier 2

Untoward Effects of Micro- and Nanoplastics: An Expert Review of Their Biological Impact and Epigenetic Effects

This expert review examined the biological and epigenetic effects of micro- and nanoplastics on living organisms. The study suggests that while intestinal uptake of plastic particles appears relatively low and size-dependent, nanoplastics may dysregulate molecular signaling pathways, alter gut microbiota composition, and induce transgenerational epigenetic changes potentially linked to metabolic disorders.

2021 Advances in Nutrition 63 citations
Article Tier 2

Precision Nutrition Redefined: Integrative Molecular Frameworks for Personalized Dietary Interventions

This review explored the biochemical and molecular foundations of personalized nutrition, integrating nutrigenetics, epigenomics, microbiomics, and metabolomics to tailor dietary strategies to individual biology. The authors identified environmental contaminants, including microplastics, as factors that may interact with genetic and metabolic profiles to influence nutritional outcomes.

2025 Asian Journal of Biological Sciences
Article Tier 2

A review of environmental metabolism disrupting chemicals and effect biomarkers associating disease risks: Where exposomics meets metabolomics

This review examines how environmental chemicals, including contaminants associated with plastics, can disrupt human metabolism and contribute to conditions like obesity and diabetes. Researchers mapped the connections between chemical exposure and changes in metabolic biomarkers that signal disease risk. The study highlights the emerging field of metabolism-disrupting chemicals and the importance of understanding how everyday environmental exposures influence long-term metabolic health.

2021 Environment International 175 citations
Article Tier 2

The Yin and Yang of epigenetics in the field of nanoparticles

This review explored how nanoparticles can both disrupt and therapeutically modulate epigenetic mechanisms, highlighting dual implications for environmental health risks from nanoplastic exposure and potential biomedical applications in drug delivery.

2022 Nanoscale Advances 30 citations
Article Tier 2

Molecular Mechanisms of Environmental Pollutants in Human Health for Unravelling the Pathophysiology of Chronic Diseases

This review examined the integrated molecular mechanisms by which environmental pollutants—including heavy metals, persistent organic pollutants, endocrine disruptors, and microplastics—contribute to chronic diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, and neurodegenerative conditions. The authors found that multiple pollutant classes converge on oxidative stress, epigenetic modification, and inflammatory signaling as shared pathogenic pathways.

2025 Natural and Engineering Sciences
Review Tier 2

Epigenetic Effects of Healthy Foods and Lifestyle Habits from the Southern European Atlantic Diet Pattern: A Narrative Review

Researchers reviewed how the Southern European Atlantic diet — rich in fish, vegetables, and minimally processed foods — influences epigenetic markers such as DNA methylation and microRNA expression, proposing that this dietary pattern promotes healthy aging by modulating gene expression through nutrient-driven epigenetic mechanisms.

2022 Advances in Nutrition 55 citations
Article Tier 2

Exploring the epigenome to identify biological links between the urban environment and neurodegenerative disease: an evidence review

This review examines how environmental factors commonly found in cities, such as air pollution and traffic-related contaminants, may contribute to neurodegenerative diseases through changes in gene regulation known as epigenetic modifications. Researchers found that pollutant exposures can alter DNA methylation and other epigenetic markers linked to brain health, though the evidence base remains limited. The study suggests that studying these molecular-level changes could help explain why urban living is associated with higher rates of cognitive decline.

2024 Cities & Health 7 citations
Article Tier 2

Obesogens: How They Are Identified and Molecular Mechanisms Underlying Their Action

Researchers reviewed the science behind obesogens, a class of endocrine-disrupting chemicals that promote fat storage and metabolic dysfunction. These compounds act through multiple pathways including disrupting adipose tissue function, altering gut microbiome composition, and interfering with hormonal signaling, with effects that can persist across generations. The review highlights the need for improved chemical screening methods to identify obesogenic substances and protect public health.

2021 Frontiers in Endocrinology 57 citations
Article Tier 2

Are microplastics in food a risk factor for obesity: Current evidence, mechanistic pathways and emerging health risks associated with human exposure

This review examines the emerging evidence linking microplastic and nanoplastic exposure to metabolic dysfunction and potential obesity risk. Researchers found that these particles have been detected in multiple human tissues and may contribute to inflammation, hormonal disruption, gut microbiome changes, and altered fat cell development. While animal and laboratory studies support a plausible connection, the study notes that direct evidence in humans is still limited and further research is needed.

2026
Article Tier 2

Nanoplastics: Focus on the role of microRNAs and long non-coding RNAs

This review explored how nanoplastics may affect gene expression through epigenetic mechanisms, focusing on their potential to alter microRNA and long non-coding RNA regulation, which could contribute to chronic diseases including cancer.

2022 Chemosphere 20 citations
Article Tier 2

Micro- and nanoplastics: Emerging environmental threats to the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease

This review examines how micro- and nanoplastic exposure may contribute to chronic health conditions through the lens of developmental origins of health and disease. Evidence suggests that microplastics accumulate in human metabolic and reproductive tissues and may induce physiological and epigenetic changes that could potentially be inherited by future generations, though research into these mechanisms is still in early stages.

2025 Reproductive Toxicology 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Weighty Consequences: Pollution’s Hidden Weight in the Obesity Epidemic: A Narrative Review

This narrative review examines evidence linking environmental pollutants—including air pollution, persistent organic pollutants, and microplastics—to obesity and metabolic disruption. It highlights biological mechanisms by which pollutants act as obesogens and calls for pollution to be considered a driver of the global obesity epidemic.

2025 Current Obesity Reports
Article Tier 2

Nuclear and Mitochondrial Epigenetic Mechanisms Underlying Neurodegeneration and Gut–Brain Axis Dysregulation Induced by Micro- and Nanoplastics

This review explored how micro- and nanoplastics may drive neurodegeneration through epigenetic changes in both nuclear and mitochondrial DNA. Researchers found that plastic particles can disrupt the gut-brain axis, alter DNA methylation and histone modifications, and potentially accelerate neurodegenerative processes, though the study notes these mechanisms are still being characterized in experimental models.

2026 Genes
Article Tier 2

Micro- and Nanoplastics and Human Health: Role of Food Nutrients Targeting Nfe2l2 Gene in Diabetes

This study explores how dietary polyphenolic compounds found in functional foods may counteract the harmful effects of micro- and nanoplastic exposure by activating the Nrf2 transcription factor, a master regulator of cellular antioxidant defenses. The research suggests that microplastic-induced deregulation of the Nfe2l2 gene encoding Nrf2 may worsen inflammatory conditions associated with metabolic disorders, and that specific food nutrients could help restore this protective pathway.

2026 Nutrients
Article Tier 2

Micro(nano)plastics in the brain: Epigenetic perturbations in progression to neurodegenerative diseases.

This review examined how micro(nano)plastics (MNPs) accumulate in the brain and induce epigenetic changes—including DNA methylation and histone modification—that may drive the progression of neurodegenerative diseases. MNPs were found to disrupt neuronal homeostasis through multiple epigenetic mechanisms after crossing the blood-brain barrier.

2025 Neurotoxicology and teratology