Medicinal Plant Growth in Heavy Metals Contaminated Soils: Responses to Metal Stress and Induced Risks to Human Health

• Published in: Toxics (Basel) 2022-08, Vol.10 (9), p.499
• Main Authors: Hlihor, Raluca Maria, Roșca, Mihaela, Hagiu-Zaleschi, Laura, Simion, Isabela Maria, Daraban, Gabriel Mihăiță, Stoleru, Vasile
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Cadmium; Consumption; Cosmetics; Cosmetology; Detoxification; detoxification mechanisms; Environmental aspects; Environmental health; Food chains; Food contamination; Food plants; Food webs; Health aspects; Health risk assessment; Health risks; Heavy metal content; Heavy metals; Herbal medicine; Human body; Human tissues; Literature reviews; Medicinal plants; Medicine; Metal ions; Methods; Oils & fats; Physiological aspects; Plant growth; plant responses to abiotic stress; Pollutants; Reactive oxygen species; Review; Soil contamination; Soil pollution; Soil stresses; toxic metals; Translocation; Womens health
• ISSN: 2305-6304; 2305-6304
• DOI: 10.3390/toxics10090499

Accelerating heavy metal pollution is a hot issue due to a continuous growth in consumerism and increased activities in various global industries. Soil contamination with heavy metals has resulted in their incorporation into the human food web via plant components. Accumulation and amplification of heavy metals in human tissues through the consumption of medicinal plants can have hazardous health outcomes. Therefore, in this critical review we aim to bring together published information on this subject, with a special highlight on the knowledge gaps related to heavy metal stress in medicinal plants, their responses, and human health related risks. In this respect, this review outlines the key contamination sources of heavy metals in plants, as well as the absorption, mobilization and translocation of metal ions in plant compartments, while considering their respective mechanisms of detoxification. In addition, this literature review attempts to highlight how stress and defensive strategies operate in plants, pointing out the main stressors, either biotic or abiotic (e.g., heavy metals), and the role of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in stress answers. Finally, in our research, we further aim to capture the risks caused by heavy metals in medicinal plants to human health through the assessment of both a hazard quotient (HQ) and hazard index (HI).