ABSTRACT
As the risk of harmful environmental exposure is increasing, it is important to find suitable targets for the diagnosis and treatment of the diseases caused. Isocitrate dehydrogenase 2 (IDH2) is an enzyme located in the mitochondria; it plays an important role in numerous cell processes, including maintaining redox homeostasis, participating in the tricarboxylic acid cycle and indirectly taking part in the transmission of the oxidative respiratory chain. IDH2 mutations promote progression in acute myeloid leukemia, glioma and other diseases. The present review mainly summarizes the role and mechanism of IDH2 with regard to the biological effects, such as the mitophagy and apoptosis of animal or human cells, caused by environmental pollution such as radiation, heavy metals and other environmental exposure factors. The possible mechanisms of these biological effects are described in terms of IDH2 expression, reduced nicotine adenine dinucleotide phosphate content and reactive oxygen species level, among other variables. The impact of environmental pollution on human health is increasingly attracting attention. IDH2 may therefore become useful as a potential diagnostic and therapeutic target for environmental exposure-induced diseases.
ABSTRACT
At the Jiapigou gold mine of the Songhua River upstream, reed leaves (Phragmites australis), soil, and water samples were collected from June (summer) and September (autumn) 2016 for the determination of mercury. Moreover, the mercury concentrations in the air were determined synchronously. Furthermore, the level of mercury pollution in the reed leaves was determined by a single factor pollution index method, and the relationships among mercury concentrations in the reed leaves and environmental factors were analyzed to research the distribution characteristics, influencing factors, and correlations around the gold mining area. The results show that, in terms of spatial distribution, the mercury concentrations in reed leaves, soil, and water gradually decay with the distance from the gold mining area, and the spatial distribution of the mercury concentrations in the air was not obvious. Regarding a temporal distribution, the mercury concentrations in the reed leaves in summer were lower than those in autumn in the heavy pollution areas, while the distribution in the light pollution areas was the opposite, as the mercury concentrations of air and soil in summer were higher than those in autumn. The influence of environmental factors on the mercury concentrations in the reed leaves was soil > air > water. In addition, after stopping gold mining and processing using mercury, the mercury source in the area was the soil.
