The Eco‐Exposome Concept: Supporting an Integrated Assessment of Mixtures of Environmental Chemicals
Nichols, John W.
Escher, Beate I.
Ankley, Gerald T.
Altenburger, Rolf
Blackwell, Brett
Brack, Werner
Burkhard, Lawrence
Collette, Timothy W.
Doering, Jon A.
Ekman, Drew
Fay, Kellie
Fischer, Fabian
Hackermüller, Jörg
Hoffman, Joel C.
Lai, Chih
Leuthold, David
Martinovic‐Weigelt, Dalma
Reemtsma, Thorsten
Pollesch, Nathan
Schroeder, Anthony
Schüürmann, Gerrit
von Bergen, Martin
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/etc.5242
Persistent URL: http://resolver.sub.uni-goettingen.de/purl?gldocs-11858/9885
Escher, Beate I.; 1Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research—UFZ Leipzig Germany
Ankley, Gerald T.; 2 Office of Research and Development, Great Lakes Ecology and Toxicology Division US Environmental Protection Agency Duluth Minnesota
Altenburger, Rolf; 1Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research—UFZ Leipzig Germany
Blackwell, Brett; 2 Office of Research and Development, Great Lakes Ecology and Toxicology Division US Environmental Protection Agency Duluth Minnesota
Brack, Werner; 1Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research—UFZ Leipzig Germany
Burkhard, Lawrence; 2 Office of Research and Development, Great Lakes Ecology and Toxicology Division US Environmental Protection Agency Duluth Minnesota
Collette, Timothy W.; 6 Office of Research and Development, Ecosystem Processes Division US Environmental Protection Agency Athens Georgia
Doering, Jon A.; 7 National Research Council US Environmental Protection Agency Duluth Minnesota
Ekman, Drew; 6 Office of Research and Development, Ecosystem Processes Division US Environmental Protection Agency Athens Georgia
Fay, Kellie; 8 Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics, Risk Assessment Division US Environmental Protection Agency Washington DC
Fischer, Fabian; 1Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research—UFZ Leipzig Germany
Hackermüller, Jörg; 1Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research—UFZ Leipzig Germany
Hoffman, Joel C.; 2 Office of Research and Development, Great Lakes Ecology and Toxicology Division US Environmental Protection Agency Duluth Minnesota
Lai, Chih; 9 College of Arts and Sciences University of Saint Thomas St. Paul Minnesota USA
Leuthold, David; 1Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research—UFZ Leipzig Germany
Martinovic‐Weigelt, Dalma; 9 College of Arts and Sciences University of Saint Thomas St. Paul Minnesota USA
Reemtsma, Thorsten; 1Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research—UFZ Leipzig Germany
Pollesch, Nathan; 2 Office of Research and Development, Great Lakes Ecology and Toxicology Division US Environmental Protection Agency Duluth Minnesota
Schroeder, Anthony; 10University of Minnesota Crookston Crookston Minnesota USA
Schüürmann, Gerrit; 1Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research—UFZ Leipzig Germany
von Bergen, Martin; 1Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research—UFZ Leipzig Germany
Abstract
Organisms are exposed to ever‐changing complex mixtures of chemicals over the course of their lifetime. The need to more comprehensively describe this exposure and relate it to adverse health effects has led to formulation of the exposome concept in human toxicology. Whether this concept has utility in the context of environmental hazard and risk assessment has not been discussed in detail. In this Critical Perspective, we propose—by analogy to the human exposome—to define the eco‐exposome as the totality of the internal exposure (anthropogenic and natural chemicals, their biotransformation products or adducts, and endogenous signaling molecules that may be sensitive to an anthropogenic chemical exposure) over the lifetime of an ecologically relevant organism. We describe how targeted and nontargeted chemical analyses and bioassays can be employed to characterize this exposure and discuss how the adverse outcome pathway concept could be used to link this exposure to adverse effects. Available methods, their limitations, and/or requirement for improvements for practical application of the eco‐exposome concept are discussed. Even though analysis of the eco‐exposome can be resource‐intensive and challenging, new approaches and technologies make this assessment increasingly feasible. Furthermore, an improved understanding of mechanistic relationships between external chemical exposure(s), internal chemical exposure(s), and biological effects could result in the development of proxies, that is, relatively simple chemical and biological measurements that could be used to complement internal exposure assessment or infer the internal exposure when it is difficult to measure. Environ Toxicol Chem 2022;41:30–45. © 2021 The Authors. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of SETAC.
Illustration of the eco‐exposome assessment and how chemical analysis and bioassays could be used to estimate internal exposure. MIE = molecular initiation event; KE = key event; AO = adverse outcome.
Subjects
ExposomeAdverse outcome pathways
Suspect screening
Biomonitoring
Internal exposure
External exposure