Journal of Clinical & Experimental Pharmacology

Rare earth elements as emergent contaminants in environmental and human health

8^th World Congress on Pharmacology and Toxicology

July 24-25, 2017 Melbourne, Australia

Giovanni Pagano

University of Naples Federico II, Italy
Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Italy

Keynote: Clin Exp Pharmacol

Abstract:

An extensive number of industrial and medical applications involve the use of Rare Earth Elements (REEs). Growing information is available to date on REE-associated biological effects, including bioassays on animal models and human health effects following environmental REE exposures. Action mechanisms in REE-associated health effects include a number of end points such as oxidative stress, organ-specific toxicity, growth inhibition, cytogenetic effects and embryonic malformations. We have reported on the comparative effects on sea urchin early life stages of an set of 11 REEs [from Y(III) to Lu(III)] that induce a number of adverse effects including developmental defects in REE-exposed embryos and in the offspring of REE-exposed sperm, cytogenetic damage and redox anomalies. The results showed the following outcomes: (1) An overall higher toxicity of heavy vs. light REEs, (2) distinct effects among individual elements and (3) highest effects exerted by a group of heavy REEs including Gd(III), Dy(III), Ho(III), Er(III) and Yb(III). An on-going study is focused on associating the REE levels in some complex mixtures such as bauxite residues, in order to verify the relation between REE content and mixture toxicity as assessed by preliminary results. Further research priorities should provide warning about the use of most toxic REEs. Most relevant research lines should be designed in mammalians and human exposures, namely by performing life-long exposures in animal models and by undertaking epidemiologic investigations.

Biography :

Giovanni Pagano has graduated in Biological Sciences at International Institute of Genetics and Biophysics, Naples University, Italy. He has served as a Senior Scientist at the Italian National Cancer Institute (Naples) with a major focus on environmental toxicology. Presently, he has collaborated with a number of national and international institutions and lecturing several post-graduate courses. Also, he is a Research Contractor at University of Naples Federico II and Associate Researcher at the Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Italy, and has authored over 100 publications.

Email: gbpagano@tin.it