Research progress on joint toxic effects and mechanisms of the mixture of TCDD and mercury, cadmium, lead, arsenic

Chemicals usually exist in the environment in the form of mixtures. Heavy metals and organic chemicals are two kinds of common pollutants in the environment, and their toxic effects have been concerned for a long time. Considering the complexity of toxic effects of chemicals mixtures and the limitation of risk assessment methods, most of the existing studies focus mainly on the toxic effects of single chemicals or a group of chemicals, but few on the joint toxic effects of different types of chemical pollutants. A number of studies related to environmental sources, concentrations, single and joint toxic effects and molecular mechanisms of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-dioxins (TCDD), mercury, cadmium, lead and arsenic were analyzed and summarized systematically. Combined with a transcriptome analysis of single and mixed induced expression genes, a quantitative study of gene expression level, and the application prospect of metabolomics and exposure omics and other technologies in the study of joint toxic effects and mechanisms, a method based on specific gene expression level was proposed to study and assess the joint toxic effects.