Role of Medicinal Plants in Remediation of Arsenic-Induced Toxicity: A Mini-Review

Abstract

Arsenic toxicity is a major public health concern on a global scale, affecting hundreds of thousands of people. Arsenic contamination of drinking water is due to the leaching of arsenic into groundwater from sources of natural geological origin. Additionally, it is possible for it to occur as a result of mining and other industrial activities. Arsenic poisoning alters the parameters of haematology, biochemistry, and oxidative stress, and it results in tissue damage, which is localized mostly in the liver and kidney. However, due to the lack of effective medications, treating arsenic-mediated illnesses remains difficult. In recent years, indigenous plant-based treatments have been revealed to give effective and gradual recovery from arsenic-mediated toxicity while causing no adverse effects on the patient. Furthermore, it has been demonstrated that these plant-based interventions eliminate arsenic from the biological system. This might make them more effective than typical treatment drugs in addressing arsenic-mediated adverse effects in particular situations. The purpose of this study is to bring together experimental data on medicinal plants that have been shown to have anti-arsenic toxicity properties. In this review of the literature, it was shown that 15 medicinal plants provided considerable protection against arsenic poisoning in pre-clinical experiments.