Metformin promotes lifespan through mitohormesis via the peroxiredoxin PRDX-2

The antiglycemic drug metformin, widely prescribed as first-line treatment of type II diabetes mellitus, has lifespan-extending properties. Precisely how this is achieved remains unclear. Via a quantitative proteomics approach using the model organism Caenorhabditis elegans, we gained molecular understanding of the physiological changes elicited by metformin exposure, including changes in branched-chain amino acid catabolism and cuticle maintenance. We show that metformin extends lifespan through the process of mitohormesis and propose a signaling cascade in which metformin-induced production of reactive oxygen species increases overall life expectancy. We further address an important issue in aging research, wherein so far, the key molecular link that translates the reactive oxygen species signal into a prolongevity cue remained elusive. We show that this beneficial signal of the mitohormetic pathway is propagated by the peroxiredoxin PRDX-2. Because of its evolutionary conservation, peroxiredoxin signaling might underlie a general principle of prolongevity signaling

First steps toward harmonized human biomonitoring in Europe : demonstration project to perform human biomonitoring on a European scale

'Reproduced with permission from Environmental Health Perspectives'Background: For Europe as a whole, data on internal exposure to environmental chemicals do not yet exist. Characterization of the internal individual chemical environment is expected to enhance understanding of the environmental threats to health. Objectives: We developed and applied a harmonized protocol to collect comparable human biomonitoring data all over Europe. Methods: In 17 European countries, we measured mercury in hair and cotinine, phthalate metabolites, and cadmium in urine of 1,844 children (5–11 years of age) and their mothers. Specimens were collected over a 5-month period in 2011–2012. We obtained information on personal characteristics, environment, and lifestyle. We used the resulting database to compare concentrations of exposure biomarkers within Europe, to identify determinants of exposure, and to compare exposure biomarkers with healthbased guidelines. Results: Biomarker concentrations showed a wide variability in the European population. However, levels in children and mothers were highly correlated. Most biomarker concentrations were below the health-based guidance values. Conclusions: We have taken the first steps to assess personal chemical exposures in Europe as a whole. Key success factors were the harmonized protocol development, intensive training and capacity building for field work, chemical analysis and communication, as well as stringent quality control programs for chemical and data analysis. Our project demonstrates the feasibility of a Europe-wide human biomonitoring framework to support the decision-making process of environmental measures to protect public health.The research leading to these results received funding for the COPHES project (COnsortium to Perform Human biomonitoring on a European Scale) from the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme [FP7/2007–2013] under grant agreement 244237. DEMOCOPHES (DEMOnstration of a study to COordinate and Perform Human biomonitoring on a European Scale) was co-funded (50%:50%) by the European Commission LIFE+ Programme (LIFE09/ENV/BE/000410) and the partners. For information on both projects as well as on the national co-funding institutions, see http://www.eu-hbm.info/. The sponsors had no role in the study design, data collection, data analysis, data interpretation or writing of the report

Applicability of non-invasively collected matrices for human biomonitoring

With its inclusion under Action 3 in the Environment and Health Action Plan 2004–2010 of the European Commission, human biomonitoring is currently receiving an increasing amount of attention from the scientific community as a tool to better quantify human exposure to, and health effects of, environmental stressors. Despite the policy support, however, there are still several issues that restrict the routine application of human biomonitoring data in environmental health impact assessment. One of the main issues is the obvious need to routinely collect human samples for large-scale surveys. Particularly the collection of invasive samples from susceptible populations may suffer from ethical and practical limitations. Children, pregnant women, elderly, or chronically-ill people are among those that would benefit the most from non-invasive, repeated or routine sampling. Therefore, the use of non-invasively collected matrices for human biomonitoring should be promoted as an ethically appropriate, cost-efficient and toxicologically relevant alternative for many biomarkers that are currently determined in invasively collected matrices. This review illustrates that several non-invasively collected matrices are widely used that can be an valuable addition to, or alternative for, invasively collected matrices such as peripheral blood sampling. Moreover, a well-informed choice of matrix can provide an added value for human biomonitoring, as different non-invasively collected matrices can offer opportunities to study additional aspects of exposure to and effects from environmental contaminants, such as repeated sampling, historical overview of exposure, mother-child transfer of substances, or monitoring of substances with short biological half-lives

Exposure determinants of cadmium in European mothers and their children

© 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CCBY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/).The metal cadmium (Cd) is a widespread environmental pollutant with documented adverse effects on the kidneys and bones from long-term environmental exposure, but with insufficiently elucidated public health consequences such as risk of cardiovascular disease, hormone-related cancer in adults and developmental effects in children. This study is the first pan-European human biomonitoring project that succeeded in performing harmonized measurements of Cd in urine in a comparable way in mother–child couples from 16 European countries. The aim of the study was to evaluate the overall Cd exposure and significant determinants of Cd exposure. A study population of 1632 women (24–52 years of age), and 1689 children (5–12 years of age), from 32 rural and urban areas, was examined within a core period of 6 months in 2011–2012. Women were stratified as smokers and non-smokers. As expected, smoking mothers had higher geometric mean (gm) urinary cadmium (UCd; 0.24 µg/g crea; n=360) than non-smoking mothers (gm 0.18 µg/g crea; n=1272; p<0.0001), and children had lower UCd (gm 0.065 µg/g crea; n=1689) than their mothers at the country level. Non-smoking women exposed to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) at home had 14% (95% CI 1–28%) higher UCd than those who were not exposed to ETS at home (p=0.04). No influence of ETS at home or other places on UCd levels was detected in children. Smoking women with primary education as the highest educational level of the household had 48% (95% CI 18–86%) higher UCd than those with tertiary education (p=0.0008). The same observation was seen in non-smoking women and in children; however they were not statistically significant. In children, living in a rural area was associated with 7% (95% CI 1–13%) higher UCd (p=0.03) compared to living in an urban area. Children, 9–12 years had 7% (95% CI 1–13%) higher UCd (p=0.04) than children 5–8 years. About 1% of the mothers, and 0.06% of the children, exceeded the tolerable weekly intake (TWI) appointed by EFSA, corresponding to 1.0 µg Cd/g crea in urine. Poland had the highest UCd in comparison between the 16 countries, while Denmark had the lowest. Whether the differences between countries are related to differences in the degree of environmental Cd contamination or to differences in lifestyle, socioeconomic status or dietary patterns is not clear.Financially supported by the 7th EU framework programe(DGResearch – No. 244237-COPHES),LIFE+ 2009(DG Environment – LIFE09ENV/BE000410-DEMOCOPHES),with addi- tional co-funding from DEMOCOPHES partners

Shocking events as sensitizing moments for discursive renewal and institutional change: Incident-based environmental health policy in Flanders 1970s-1990s

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Prediction of solid-liquid distribution of cadmium and zinc based on labile metal content

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Labile synthetic cadmium complexes are not bioavailable to Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata in resin buffered solutions

The Free Ion Activity Model (FIAM) predicts that cadmium (Cd) uptake by organisms is identical for solutions with the same free Cd2+ concentration and inorganic composition. Clear exceptions to the FIAM have been shown for Cd uptake by plant roots, periphyton and human cells where labile Cd complexes increase bioavailability and which has been attributed to their role in enhancing Cd diffusion towards the uptake cells. Here, we assessed the role of labile Cd complexes on Cd uptake by algae, for which diffusion limitations should be less pronounced due to their smaller size. Long-term (3 days) Cd uptake by the green algae Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata was measured in resin buffered solutions with or without synthetic ligands and at three Cd2+ ion activities (pCd 8.2–5.7). The free Cd2+ activity was maintained during the test using a metal-selective resin located in the algal bottles. Total dissolved Cd increased up to 35-fold by adding the synthetic ligands at constant Cd2+ activity. In contrast, Cd uptake by algae increased maximally 2.8 fold with increasing concentration of the synthetic ligands and the availability of the complexes were maximally 5.2% relative to Cd2+ for NTA and CDTA complexes. It is concluded that labile Cd complexes do not greatly enhance Cd bioavailability to the unicellular algae and calculations suggest that Cd transport from solution to these small cells is not rate limitingstatus: publishe