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A review of neurotoxicity of microcystins

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Abstract

Cyanobacterial blooms-produced microcystins are secondary metabolites which can accumulate in the food chain and contaminate water, thus posing a potential threat to the health of aquatic animals and even humans. Microcystin toxicity affects not only the liver but also the other organs, i.e., the brain. The serious neurotoxicity effects caused by microcystins then lead to various symptoms. This review focuses on the neurotoxicity of microcystins. Microcystins can cross blood-brain barrier with the transport of Oatps/OATPs, causing neurostructural, functional, and behavioral changes. In this review, potential uptake mechanisms and neurotoxicity mechanisms are summarized, including neurotransmissions, neurochannels, signal transduction, oxidative stress, and cytoskeleton disruption. However, further researches are needed for detailed studies on signaling pathways and the downstream pathways of neurotoxicity of microcystins.

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Acknowledgments

The authors appreciate Dr. Liang Chen from Donghu Experimental Station of Lake Ecosystems, Institute of Hydrobiology, for his useful suggestions on the manuscript. This work was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundations of China (grant number 31322013) and the State Key Laboratory of Freshwater Ecology and Biotechnology (grant number 2014FBZ02).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Donghu Experimental Station of Lake Ecosystems, State Key Laboratory of Freshwater Ecology and Biotechnology, Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No.7 Donghu South Road, Wuhan, 430072, China

    Yufei Hu, Jun Chen, Ping Xie & Jun He

  2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Yufei Hu

  3. Department of Preventive Medicine, Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, Zhejiang, China

    Huihui Fan

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  1. Yufei Hu
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  2. Jun Chen
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Correspondence to Ping Xie.

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Hu, Y., Chen, J., Fan, H. et al. A review of neurotoxicity of microcystins. Environ Sci Pollut Res 23, 7211–7219 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-016-6073-y

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