Lead toxicity and potential therapeutic effect of plant-derived polyphenols

Due to its unique physical and chemical properties, lead is still used worldwide in several applications, especially in industry. Both environmental and industrial lead exposures remain a public health problem in many developing and rapidly industrializing countries. Plant polyphenols are pleiotropic in their function and have historically made a major contribution to pharmacotherapy.

To summarize available pre-clinical and limited clinical evidence on plant polyphenols as potential antidotes against lead poisoning and discuss toxic mechanisms of lead.

A comprehensive search of peer-reviewed publications was performed from core collections of electronic databases such as PubMed, Web of Science, Google Scholar, and Science Direct. Articles written in English-language from inception until December 2022 were selected.

In this review, we review key toxic mechanisms of lead and its pathological effects on the neurological, reproductive, renal, cardiovascular, hematological, and hepatic systems. We focus on plant polyphenols against lead toxicity and involved mechanisms. Finally, we address scientific gaps and challenges associated with translating these promising preclinical discoveries into effective clinical therapies.

While preclinical evidence suggests that plant polyphenols exhibit bioprotective effects against lead toxicity, scant and equivocal clinical data highlight a need for clinical trials with those polyphenols.