Plasticizers and Human Health: Insights from Gut Microbiota and Toxicological Studies

Plasticizers, pervasive components in everyday items, have triggered
global health debates due to their extensive use in industries producing plastics, food packaging, thermal paper, and consumer goods. Particularly concerning are compounds like bisphenols and phthalates, acknowledged for their endocrine-disrupting activities, which pose significant threats to public health.

This Research Topic is dedicated to delving into the complex influences of plasticizers on human health. It aims to dissect the modes of action, toxicokinetics, and their potential roles in exacerbating conditions ranging from reproductive disorders to metabolic issues, cancers, neurodevelopmental challenges, and cardiovascular diseases. A key focus is the interaction between gut microbiota and plasticizers; recent findings suggest that microbiota’s processing of these substances could intensify health complications, thereby layering additional complexity onto their effects.

By fostering contributions from varied disciplines such as toxicology,
environmental science, chemistry, and computer science, this endeavor seeks to broaden our understanding, drive informed policy-making, optimize protective measures, and ensure ecosystem and public health sustainability in the face of persistent plasticizer exposure. Ultimately, we aim to generate actionable, evidence-based
recommendations for safer plasticizer usage and effective environmental stewardship.

Submissions, including original research, methods, reviews, and study
protocols, are solicited under a broad spectrum of thematic areas:
• Exploring gut microbiota’s role: understanding how gut microbiota
modulate plasticizer toxicity and identifying interaction pathways.
• Assessing exposure: studying plasticizer impacts on general and
vulnerable groups, such as infants and pregnant women, examining risks like neurotoxicity, oxidative stress, inflammatory responses, and
epigenetic modifications.
• Investigating interactions with environmental contaminants: looking
at combined effects of plasticizers and other pollutants, such as heavy
metals.
• Developing biomarkers: crafting novel biomarkers to evaluate
exposure to plasticizers and related health outcomes, thereby enhancing preventive and diagnostic efforts.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Policy and Practice Reviews
• Policy Brief
• Review
• Study Protocol
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: Plasticizers, Gut Microbiota, Human Health, new approach methodologies (NAMs), risk assessment, endocrine disruptors, emerging contaminants

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.