Abstract
A toxic plant is a plant that when touched or ingested in sufficient quantity can be harmful or fatal to man or other animals. When used in small amounts and correct proportions, these plants can be used as herbal drugs with medicinal properties. According to official sources from several countries, injurious and poisonous plants are responsible for many cases of intoxications worldwide. The beauty of these plants hides their toxicity and the unawareness potentiates these situations. Therefore, this bibliographic revision is about examples of some plants associated with poisoning but used for their medicinal properties, focusing on species with anticholinergic poisons (Atropa belladonna L., Datura stramonium L., Hyoscyamus niger L.), with calcium oxalate crystals (Philodendron spp.), with cardiac glycosides (Digitalis purpurea L.), with convulsant poisons and with nicotine-like alkaloids (Conium maculatum L., Nicotiana glauca Graham), with mitotic inhibitors (Catharanthus roseus L., Colchicum autumnale L.), with pyrrolizidine alkaloids (Senecio vulgaris L.), with sodium channel activators (Aconitum napellus L., Rhododendron spp.), with cyanogenic compounds (Hydrangea macrophylla (Thunb.) Ser.), and with toxalbumins (Abrus precatorius L., Ricinus communis L.). The knowledge about toxic plants is still insufficient and makes it so important to characterize some species that cause intoxication and lethality in humans.
Highlights
Toxic plants are plants that have in their constitution chemical compounds or active principles, which through contact, inhalation or ingestion, are capable of causing injury, disease and even death in humans and animals
This toxicity is due to the presence of three tropic alkaloids, these being atropine, scopolamine and hyoscyamine
Throughout this work, we can verify that intoxication by toxic plants are a significant cause of morbidity and mortality, which in most cases are accidental intoxications, may be avoidable
Summary
Toxic plants are plants that have in their constitution chemical compounds or active principles, which through contact, inhalation or ingestion, are capable of causing injury, disease and even death in humans and animals. These compounds may be alkaloids, glycosides, saponins, oxalates, tannins, among others. The part of the plant ingested, its concentration, the chemical substances present, the age, the physical conditions for its development (type of soil, humidity, temperature, time of year), and the ripening state of its fruits are aspects to consider. Most poisonings are characterized by irritations of the gastrointestinal tract, such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and some dermatological discomfort, such as dermatitis. There are, more severe poisonings in which cytotoxicity or central nervous system depression can occur, which can lead to respiratory and cardiac failure, leading to death
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