Effects of environmental contaminants in water resources on nonalcoholic fatty liver disease

Shuilin Zheng; Yue Yang; Cong Wen; Wenya Liu; Linghui Cao; Xiangling Feng; Jihua Chen; Hui Wang; Yan Tang; Li Tian; Xiaoyan Wang; Fei Yang

doi:10.1016/j.envint.2021.106555

Effects of environmental contaminants in water resources on nonalcoholic fatty liver disease

Environ Int. 2021 Sep:154:106555. doi: 10.1016/j.envint.2021.106555. Epub 2021 Apr 12.

Authors

Shuilin Zheng¹, Yue Yang¹, Cong Wen¹, Wenya Liu¹, Linghui Cao¹, Xiangling Feng¹, Jihua Chen¹, Hui Wang², Yan Tang², Li Tian³, Xiaoyan Wang³, Fei Yang⁴

Affiliations

¹ Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Clinical Epidemiology, Xiangya School of Public Health, Central South University, Changsha 410078, China.
² Hunan Province Key Laboratory of Typical Environmental Pollution and Health Hazards, School of Public Health, University of South China, Hengyang 421001, China.
³ Department of Gastroenterology, Third Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, China.
⁴ Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Clinical Epidemiology, Xiangya School of Public Health, Central South University, Changsha 410078, China; Hunan Province Key Laboratory of Typical Environmental Pollution and Health Hazards, School of Public Health, University of South China, Hengyang 421001, China; Key Laboratory of Environmental Medicine Engineering, Ministry of Education, School of Public Health Southeast University, Nanjing 210009, China. Electronic address: yangfeilong@126.com.

PMID: 33857709
DOI: 10.1016/j.envint.2021.106555

Abstract

The global prevalence of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has been increasing rapidly in recent years, which is now estimated to be over 25%. NAFLD is one of the most common chronic liver diseases in the world. At present, with the rapid development of economy and industrialization, many chemicals are released into the environment. These chemical contaminants in the environment might cause harm to human health and result in lipid metabolism disorder during long-term exposure. Moreover, the incentive of many NAFLD cases is unknown, and the environmental risk factors of NAFLD need to be urgently identified. Hence, we focus on the impacts of several popular environmental contaminants in water environment on the development and progression of NAFLD. These contaminants mainly include microcystins (MCs), disinfection by-products (DBPs), heavy metals (HMs), dioxins and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Through analyzing a great many epidemiological and toxicological studies, we have found positive associations between NAFLD and chronic exposure to these contaminants at the environmental levels. This review may enhance the understanding of liver damage caused by environmental pollutants, which are considered as tangible environmental risk factors for NAFLD.

Keywords: Environmental contaminants; Lipid metabolism; Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD); Water resources.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Review

MeSH terms

Environmental Pollutants* / toxicity
Humans
Liver
Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease* / chemically induced
Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease* / epidemiology
Polychlorinated Biphenyls*
Water Resources

Substances

Environmental Pollutants
Polychlorinated Biphenyls