EDCtox

Mechanistic evidence atlas. Scores summarise biological direction and magnitude. They are not a toxicity rank or a human-risk number.

Compounds

Paraquat

Paraquat

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Category
herbicide · Bipyridyl herbicide
Record
specific compound · restricted
Identifiers
CAS 4685-14-7 · C12H14N2
Aliases
Paraquat dichloride

Bipyridyl herbicide. Seed assessments emphasise mitochondrial and redox activity. Classical estrogen or androgen receptor activity is not scored.

CAS is the cation. Formulations commonly use the dichloride (CAS 1910-42-5). Status is jurisdiction-dependent.

Flags: environmental chemical

Phase-1 numbers are seed hypotheses. They are not curated consensus, not a toxicity total, and not a statement of human risk. Association is not written as causation.

REP · Reproductive endocrinology

ER-alpha agonism

ER_ALPHA_AGONISM · group ESTROGEN_RECEPTOR · Estrogen receptor axis · scorable

Estrogen receptor alpha agonism or activation. A binding or reporter result is not itself a human disease claim.

Score not quantifiedDirection uncertainLow confidenceH0seed hypothesisreview v1

No classical ER-alpha activity is scored. Lack of a number is not proof of absence.

Present so the compound page does not look like an estrogenic profile.

Phase-1 seed hypothesis, not a curated systematic review. Where a range was discussed, the stored integer is the conservative end closer to zero. A score is biological direction and magnitude, not human risk.

    No evidence finding is linked yet.

    Score history
    • 2026-10-03: — → —. Initial seed hypothesis, version 1. Not a curated consensus.

    Androgen receptor agonism

    ANDROGEN_RECEPTOR_AGONISM · group ANDROGEN_RECEPTOR · Androgen receptor axis · scorable

    Androgen receptor agonism. Mechanism node for evidence linkage. A row here is not itself a finding.

    Score not quantifiedDirection uncertainLow confidenceH0seed hypothesisreview v1

    No classical androgen-receptor activity is scored.

    Unscored receptor note.

    Phase-1 seed hypothesis, not a curated systematic review. Where a range was discussed, the stored integer is the conservative end closer to zero. A score is biological direction and magnitude, not human risk.

      No evidence finding is linked yet.

      Score history
      • 2026-10-03: — → —. Initial seed hypothesis, version 1. Not a curated consensus.

      IMM · Immunology and immunoendocrinology

      Immune activation

      IMMUNE_ACTIVATION · group CYTOKINE_INFLAMMATION · Innate immunity and cytokines · scorable

      Immune activation. Mechanism node for evidence linkage. A row here is not itself a finding.

      Score +3Disruptive signalLow confidenceH1seed hypothesisreview v1

      Inflammatory and neuroinflammatory seed at +3.

      Cytokine cluster. Not a classical endocrine score.

      Phase-1 seed hypothesis, not a curated systematic review. Where a range was discussed, the stored integer is the conservative end closer to zero. A score is biological direction and magnitude, not human risk.

      • Insufficient human evidence

      No evidence finding is linked yet.

      Score history
      • 2026-10-03: — → +3. Initial seed hypothesis, version 1. Not a curated consensus.

      MITO · Mitochondrial bioenergetics

      ETC complex I

      ETC_COMPLEX_I · group ETC_COMPLEX_I · Electron transport complexes · scorable

      NADH:ubiquinone oxidoreductase. Rotenone and some redox-cycling toxicants act here. Do not infer complex II effects from complex I data.

      Score +4Disruptive signalHigh confidenceH2seed hypothesisreview v1

      Biological context: Mitochondrion

      Pathway: Paraquat redox cycling. Not summed with other domains.

      Strong mitochondrial disruption in experimental and high-exposure settings. Human disease causation is not scored as established.

      Complex I / redox-cycle cluster. Not an ER or AR mechanism.

      Phase-1 seed hypothesis, not a curated systematic review. Where a range was discussed, the stored integer is the conservative end closer to zero. A score is biological direction and magnitude, not human risk.

      • Insufficient human evidence
      • Dose relevance uncertain

      No evidence finding is linked yet.

      Score history
      • 2026-10-03: — → +4. Initial seed hypothesis, version 1. Not a curated consensus.

      REDOX · Redox and cellular stress

      ROS (total)

      ROS_TOTAL · group ROS_GENERATION · Reactive species · scorable

      ROS (total). Mechanism node for evidence linkage. A row here is not itself a finding.

      Score +4Disruptive signalHigh confidenceH2seed hypothesisreview v1

      Biological context: Brain · Dopaminergic neuron

      Pathway: Paraquat redox cycling. Not summed with other domains.

      Redox cycling with substantial ROS generation. Shown beside the mitochondrial score and not added to it.

      Same pathway tag as complex I.

      Phase-1 seed hypothesis, not a curated systematic review. Where a range was discussed, the stored integer is the conservative end closer to zero. A score is biological direction and magnitude, not human risk.

      • Dose relevance uncertain

      No evidence finding is linked yet.

      Score history
      • 2026-10-03: — → +4. Initial seed hypothesis, version 1. Not a curated consensus.