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Copyright ©The Author(s) 2019. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Stem Cells. Sep 26, 2019; 11(9): 565-577
Published online Sep 26, 2019. doi: 10.4252/wjsc.v11.i9.565
Effects of environmental stressors on stem cells
Jessica R Worley, Graham C Parker
Jessica R Worley, Graham C Parker, Department of Pediatrics, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI 48202, United States
Author contributions: Parker GC and Worley JR contributed equally to this paper with conception and design of the study, literature review and analysis, drafting and critical revision and editing, and final approval of the final version.
Supported by the Center for Urban Responses to Environmental Stressors Grant from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, No. P30 ES020957.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no potential conflicts of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Graham C Parker, BSc, PhD, Research Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Integrative Biosciences Building, 6135 Woodward Avenue, Detroit, MI 48202, United States. gparker@med.wayne.edu
Telephone: +1-313-5772707 Fax: +1-313-9728024
Received: March 2, 2019
Peer-review started: March 4, 2019
First decision: June 5,2019
Revised: July 12, 2019
Accepted: September 4, 2019
Article in press: September 4, 2019
Published online: September 26, 2019
Processing time: 207 Days and 23.9 Hours
Abstract

Environmental toxicants are ubiquitous, and many are known to cause harmful health effects. However, much of what we know or think we know concerning the targets and long-term effects of exposure to environmental stressors is sadly lacking. Toxicant exposure may have health effects that are currently mischaracterized or at least mechanistically incompletely understood. While much of the recent excitement about stem cells (SCs) focuses on their potential as therapeutic agents, they also offer a valuable resource to give us insight into the mechanisms and risks of toxicant effects. Not only as a response to the increasing ethical pressure to reduce animal testing, SC studies allow us valuable insight into the true effects of human exposure to environmental stressors under controlled conditions. We present a review of the history of publications on the effects of environmental stressors on SCs, followed by a consolidation of the literature over the past five years on a subset of key environmental stressors of importance to human health and their effects on both embryonic and tissue SCs. The review will make constructive suggestions as to areas of toxicant research where further studies are needed, as well as making indications of the potential utility for advancing knowledge and directing research on environmental toxicology.

Keywords: Environmental substances; Toxic; Stem cells; Endocrine disruptors; Alcohols; Tobacco smoking; Metals; Heavy; Particulate matter; Volatile organic compounds; Ozone

Core tip: Environmental toxicants can cause health effects. While most research and discussion of stem cells focuses on their potential as therapeutic agents, they also offer a valuable resource to give us insight into the mechanism and incidence of the effects of environmental toxicants. We present a review of the history of relevant publications, followed by a consolidation of the literature over the past five years on a subset of key environmental stressors of importance to human health. Constructive suggestions as to the areas of toxicant research where further studies are needed, and indications of the potential for advancing knowledge are made.