Exposure of heavy metals to mother and its toxic effects on developing foetus

People effecting from the exposure of heavy meats are the common phenomenon in modern days. Reasons behind that are the unhealthy life conditions of the person and their working scenarios. Heavy metals are those metals which have high density, atomic weights and atomic numbers. Some heavy metals are essential while others are harmful. Heavy metals like cadmium, arsenic, mercury and lead are highly toxic. The toxic effects of arsenic, mercury, and lead were known to the ancients, but methodical studies of the toxicity of some heavy metals appear to date from only 1868. In humans, heavy metal poisoning is generally treated by the administration of chelating agents. Some elements otherwise regarded as toxic heavy metals are essential, in small quantities, for human health. These metals have the capability to produce the reactive free radicals which are responsible in cellular damage like depletion of enzyme activities, damage to lipid bilayer and DNA.a wide variety of oxygen-, carbon-, sulphur-and nitrogen-radicals, originating not only from superoxide radical, hydrogen peroxide, and. lipid peroxides but also in chelates of amino-acids, peptides, and proteins complexes with the toxic metals. These metals generate reactive species, which in turn may cause neurotoxicity, hepatotoxicity and nephrotoxicity in humans and animals. Human-made chemicals and unhealthy lifestyle behaviors, mainly tobacco smoking, alcohol consumption and medical drug abuse, are major factors that adversely influence prenatal development and increase susceptibility of offspring to diseases. ROS can play several physiological roles, and they are normally generated as by-products of oxygen metabolism; despite this, environmental stressors and xenobiotic contribute to greatly increase ROS production. This review summarizes our current understanding about the mechanism by which metalloids or heavy metals induce their toxic effects.