Heavy metals are natural constituents of the earth's crust, but indiscriminate human activities have drastically altered their geochemical cycles and biochemical balance. This results in accumulation of metals in plant parts having secondary metabolites, which is responsible for a particular pharmacological activity. Prolonged exposure to heavy metals such as cadmium, copper, lead, nickel, and zinc can cause deleterious health effects in humans. Molecular understanding of plant metal accumulation has numerous biotechnological implications also, the long term effects of which might not be yet known.
The importance of zinc was 1st reported for Aspergillus niger. It took over 75 y to realize that zinc is also an essential trace element for rats, and an additional 30 y went by before it was recognized that this was also true for humans. The adult body contains about 2 to 3 g of zinc. Zinc is found in organs, tissues, bones, fluids, and cells. It is essential for many physiological functions and plays a significant role in a number of enzyme actions in the living systems. Bioinformatics estimates report that 10% of the human proteome contains zinc-binding sites. Based on its role in such a plethora of cellular components, zinc has diverse biological functions from enzymatic catalysis to playing a crucial role in cellular neuronal systems. Thus, based on the various published studies and reports, it is pertinent to state that zinc is one of the most important essential trace metals in human nutrition and lifestyle. Its deficiency may severely affect the homeostasis of a biological system. This review compiles the role of zinc in prophylaxis/therapeutics and provides current information about its effect on living beings.
Herbal drugs have been used since ancient times as medicines for the treatment of various diseases. Especially in countries like India many of herbal drugs and formulations are used in different practices of treatment like Ayurveda, Siddha and Unani. It is estimated that about 25% of all modern medicines are directly or indirectly derived from plants sources. The contribution of developing countries in global herbal business is very poor due to lack of quality control and standardization measures. There is lack of common standards and appropriate methods for evaluating Traditional Medicine to ensure the safety, efficacy and quality control. This indicates the importance and necessity to develop a standard operational procedure for the standardization of herbal drugs and formulations. Benchmarking the evaluation protocols including both quality control and quality assurance of herbal drugs would play a major role in providing highly reliable and effective herbals drugs and to attract international trade, thus generating revenue. The article highlights various problems being faced by developing countries and suggests a unique approach for the preparation of SOP/guidelines for the standardization of all herbal based formulations, also there is a need for systematic clinical trials of traditional plant based medicines to enhance global acceptance.
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