Heavy Metals and Neurological Disorders: From Exposure to Preventive Interventions

Heavy metals are available abundantly in nature, especially in the soil, mines, drinking water, some in vapor form in the air, and also constitute the Earth’s crust. These are widely used in pesticides, herbicides, paints, gasoline, etc., and their main route of exposure encompasses anthropogenic sources. Among several heavy metals, lead, cadmium, mercury, and arsenic cover the most part. One of the most important contributing factors are industrial pollutants that have an important role in contaminating the plant and marine life, which indirectly affect the human health. The brain is the functional unit of body which is sensitive to such heavy metals, and suffers a lot through their contamination in comparison to the other parts of the body. If the exposure of heavy metals becomes prolonged, they will have deleterious effects on the nervous system. Heavy metals toxicity is responsible for many neurodegenerative diseases particularly Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, multiple sclerosis, and attention-deficit hypertensive disorders. There are number of epidemiological, experimental, in vivo and in vitro data which represent the significant association or correlation between the exposure of heavy metals and neurotoxicity. The probable reason behind this correlation is mostly due to oxidative stress, the participation of certain proteins/enzymes as well as an interruption in the normal secretion of neurotransmitters on account of heavy metal exposure. The resultant effects and intensity of diseases can be prevented by taking the adequate preventive measures with possible therapeutic interventions.