https://doi.org/10.65770/ENFA2362
ABSTRACT
Environmental contamination has evolved beyond traditional pollutants to include a growing class of emerging contaminants such as microplastics, nanoplastics, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), pharmaceutical residues, and endocrine-disrupting chemicals. These contaminants are increasingly detected in air, water, food systems, wildlife, and human tissues. While environmental chemistry has extensively characterized their occurrence, persistence, transport, and transformation, their pathological consequences remain fragmented across disciplines. This review integrates environmental chemistry with anatomic pathology by examining how emerging contaminants induce cellular and tissue-level lesions that culminate in organ dysfunction. Particular emphasis is placed on contaminant fate, bioaccumulation, oxidative stress induction, inflammatory signaling, endocrine disruption, immune dysregulation, and epigenetic modifications. Histopathological manifestations, including fibrosis, necrosis, cellular degeneration, chronic inflammation, hyperplasia, and neoplastic transformation, are discussed across major organ systems. Current evidence from human biomonitoring studies and experimental animal investigations is critically evaluated. The review highlights the need for pathology-informed environmental risk assessment frameworks and proposes future directions integrating toxicopathology, exposomics, and environmental surveillance.
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