Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs). Environmental Toxicology - Essay Example

Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) Persistent Organic Pollutants are a type of environmental contaminants and are present in our environment vastly exerting toxic affects not only on the environment but also on the human life. Persistent organic pollutants have the ability to remain intact in the environment for a long period of time. According to the article “The toxicogenomic study on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) in human hepatoma cell line”, POPs have the ability to accumulate in the fat cells of living organisms.

It has been difficult to assess the toxic effects of POPs and the mechanism by which they exert their toxicology. According to studies it has been found that certain POPs such as chlordane, toxaphene and mirex have the ability to induce hepatotoxicity-related genes. These genes were induced in the human hepatocellular carcinoma cell line and were evaluated by using microarray and gene ontology studies. It was observed that certain pathways which were associated with hepatotoxicity such as metabolism of xenobiotics by apoptosis complement and coagulation cascades and cell cycle regulation, were up-regulated or down-regulated by POPs.

POPs have the ability to express different genes and also help in understanding the hepatotoxic mechanism of POPs (Choi, Song, Lee, & Ryu, 2013). POPs are an important aspect of environmental toxicology and have been increasingly associated with increased risk of cancer and tumor pathogenesis. POPs belong to environmental endocrine disruptors or are an important part of aquatic ecosystem. It has been difficult to assess the toxinogenomic effects of POPs however an important mechanism is by their action on the aryl hydrocarbon receptor pathway in the fish.

Through this pathway they induce cytosolic complex formation, translocation of the receptor and induction of the CYP1A (Zhou, et al., 2010). These effects are a step forward in understanding the toxicology of the POPs, however, stll further research is required in this challenging aspect of the POP mechanism. ReferencesChoi, H.-S., Song, M.-K., Lee, E., & Ryu, J.-C. (2013). The toxicogenenomic study on persisten organic pollutants (POPs) in human hepatoma cell line. BioChip Journal, 7, 1, 17-28.Zhou, H., Wu, H., Liao, C., Diao, X., Zhen, J., Chen, L.

, & Xue, Q. (January 01, 2010). Toxicology mechanism of the persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in fish through AhR pathway. Toxicology Mechanisms and Methods, 20, 6, 279-86.