Mycotoxins and Their Human Biological Effects
A special issue of Toxins (ISSN 2072-6651). This special issue belongs to the section "Mycotoxins".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2021) | Viewed by 2685
Special Issue Editor
Interests: environmental and food safety; mycotoxins, pharmaceuticals, and other contaminants in foods and biological fluids; human exposure evaluation; biomonitoring
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Food is among the most complex xenobiotic vehicles to which humans are exposed. Among biological xenobiotics are toxins produced by living organisms such as mycotoxins.
Mycotoxins are low molecular fungal metabolites that occur naturally under a certain temperature and moisture conditions, contaminating foods throughout the food chain. These secondary fungal metabolites are produced by different fungal species that develop worldwide, in both crops and processed food commodities.
Among the more than 400 mycotoxins already identified and reported, those that have attracted notable attention for their toxic effects and high prevalence in agro-food commodities are aflatoxins, ochratoxin A, trichothecenes, fumonisins, zearalenone, patulin, and citrinin. Moreover, “emerging” mycotoxins include, among others, enniatins and beauvericin.
The intake of mycotoxins does not always represent the amount that is available to the body. Mycotoxin bioaccessibility depends on the compound, food product, and contamination level. The resulting toxic effects on human health have attracted worldwide attention. They have recognized mutagenic, carcinogenic, hepatotoxic, nephrotoxic, estrogenic, teratogenic, and immunosuppressive effects. Population-vulnerable groups, such as infants and children, with high consumption versus low body weight, high metabolism and low detoxification capacity, are highly susceptible to disease outcomes following exposure to even small doses of contaminants.
Human biomonitoring allows the exposure of each individual to be measured by the determination and/or its metabolites and biomarkers of effect on biological fluids or tissues and provides a scientific basis for risk assessment targeting public health protection.
In this sense, we aim to assemble a Special Issue, including original research articles or comprehensive reviews, which will cover our current understanding of the main biological effects of single or combined mycotoxins on humans, including the following topics:
- Toxicological studies to access human biological effects;
- Mycotoxins bioaccessibility, bioavailability and reduction during in vitro studies;
- Human biomonitoring studies;
- Novel methodologies for these research topics.
Dr. Liliana J.G. Silva
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Toxins is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- mycotoxins (single or combined)
- human biological effects
- toxicological studies
- mycotoxins bioaccessibility, bioavailability and reduction
- biomonitoring studies
- novel methodologies
