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Review
. 2022 Apr 16;27(8):2577.
doi: 10.3390/molecules27082577.

Mixed Contaminants: Occurrence, Interactions, Toxicity, Detection, and Remediation

Anirban Goutam Mukherjee  1 , Uddesh Ramesh Wanjari  1 , Mohamed Ahmed Eladl  2 , Mohamed El-Sherbiny  3 , Dalia Mahmoud Abdelmonem Elsherbini  4   5 , Aarthi Sukumar  6 , Sandra Kannampuzha  1 , Madurika Ravichandran  1 , Kaviyarasi Renu  7 , Balachandar Vellingiri  8 , Sabariswaran Kandasamy  9 , Abilash Valsala Gopalakrishnan  1
Affiliations
Review

Mixed Contaminants: Occurrence, Interactions, Toxicity, Detection, and Remediation

Anirban Goutam Mukherjee et al. Molecules. .

Abstract

The ever-increasing rate of pollution has attracted considerable interest in research. Several anthropogenic activities have diminished soil, air, and water quality and have led to complex chemical pollutants. This review aims to provide a clear idea about the latest and most prevalent pollutants such as heavy metals, PAHs, pesticides, hydrocarbons, and pharmaceuticals-their occurrence in various complex mixtures and how several environmental factors influence their interaction. The mechanism adopted by these contaminants to form the complex mixtures leading to the rise of a new class of contaminants, and thus resulting in severe threats to human health and the environment, has also been exhibited. Additionally, this review provides an in-depth idea of various in vivo, in vitro, and trending biomarkers used for risk assessment and identifies the occurrence of mixed contaminants even at very minute concentrations. Much importance has been given to remediation technologies to understand our current position in handling these contaminants and how the technologies can be improved. This paper aims to create awareness among readers about the most ubiquitous contaminants and how simple ways can be adopted to tackle the same.

Keywords: biomarkers; contaminant; microorganisms; pollution; remediation.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no potential conflict of interest concerning this article’s research, authorship, and publication.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Influence of anthropogenic activities leads to the accumulation of pollutants in the environment. Waste disposed by factories and pharmacies containing mixed contaminants enters the food chain and bioaccumulates in higher organisms. These pollutants in living organisms alter several biological mechanisms and threaten normal development.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Toxic mechanisms and effect of the cellular level of heavy metals Hg, As, Cr, Cd, and Pb. These heavy metals provoke ROS production inside the cell and cause an imbalance of ROS and antioxidant production, thus causing cellular damage via inactivation of enzymes, apoptosis, genome instability, and DNA damage. Up arrow () indicates increases.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Effects of mixed contaminants in soil and water. Pathophysiology is followed by different contaminants in humans, eventually leading to cancer. Water contaminated with phthalate and its exposure to humans has resulted in various reproduction-related complications in males and females. Up arrow () indicates increases and down arrow indicates () decreases.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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