Occupational and Environmental Exposures: Trends in Publications, Diseases, and Experimental Models

Area of Science:

• Environmental Health Sciences
• Toxicology
• Biomedical Engineering

Background:

• Environmental exposures to silica dust, microplastics, and general dust pose significant health risks.
• Inhaled fine and ultrafine particles can interact directly with lung epithelial cells, triggering inflammatory and fibrotic responses.
• The airway epithelium acts as a crucial defense mechanism, but is susceptible to damage from inhaled deleterious substances.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze research trends (2000-2025) on environmental exposures (silica, microplastics, dust) and their associated diseases.
• To evaluate the utilization of different experimental models, including animal models, in vitro systems, and organ-on-chip platforms.
• To identify research gaps and highlight the need for advanced, human-relevant models in studying exposure effects.

Main Methods:

• A PubMed search (2000-2025) was conducted to quantify publications on specific occupational exposures and related diseases.
• Experimental models (transwell, organ-on-chip, in vitro, ex vivo, animal) were analyzed for their usage frequency.
• Data were compiled and visualized using trend plots, bar charts, and heatmaps to show exposure-disease and exposure-model relationships.

Main Results:

• Publication trends for silica dust and microplastics show a significant increase, particularly after 2016 for microplastics.
• Pulmonary fibrosis is the most frequently studied disease outcome associated with silica dust and general dust exposures.
• Animal models and conventional in vitro studies dominate experimental approaches, while organ-on-chip platforms are minimally utilized.

Conclusions:

• There is a growing research interest in environmental exposures, but a significant gap exists in the use of physiologically relevant human-based experimental systems.
• Organ-on-chip technology offers potential for recapitulating human epithelial barriers and tissue-specific responses but remains underutilized.
• The findings underscore the need for innovative experimental models, such as organ-on-chips, to improve understanding of exposure-related pathophysiology and bridge the translational gap.