Hepatotoxic botanicals-shadows of pearls

Title : Hepatotoxic botanicals-shadows of pearls

Abstract:

Objective: The utilization of herbal medicines has risen globally. Recently, the possible adverse effects of certain herbs have been observed, particularly concerning hepatotoxicity associated with the consumption of herbal treatments. This review aims to assess the evidence of hepatotoxic consequences related to the use of herbal remedies.

Methods: A personal forensic consultation service and a comprehensive electronic search were conducted across many databases, including PubMed, HerbMed, Google Scholar, Scopus, the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, and the Cochrane Library, utilizing both Latin and standard nomenclature for various herbs. The language was limited to English, and papers were chosen based on their relevance to the incidence of hepatotoxicity linked to the use of herbal products in humans.

Results: Significant hepatotoxic incidents linked to numerous herbal preparations, whether used independently or in conjunction with other medications, have been documented. The range of liver toxicity associated with herbal ingredients includes increased liver enzymes, acute or chronic hepatitis, cholestasis, hepatic necrosis, fibrosis, cirrhosis, abrupt liver failure, and hepatic veno-occlusive disease.

Conclusions: The hepatotoxicity of herbs has been widely recognized. With the rising utilization of natural medicine, the likelihood of liver damage and drug interactions concurrently escalates. Consequently, herbal treatments have been recognized as hepatotoxins that induce various forms of liver damage. Additional high-quality scientific research is required to identify harmful chemicals and elucidate the precise mechanisms of herb-induced hepatotoxicity. The detrimental effects of herbal products must be thoroughly documented, because it has forensic consequences. A comprehensive education for healthcare personnel is essential to mitigate the risks associated with alternative treatments.

Biography:

Consolato M. Sergi is the Chief of the Anatomic Pathology Division at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario, Professor of Pediatrics and Pathology, University of Alberta and Ottawa, Canada. Dr. Sergi is Canadian, born in Rome (Italy), obtained his MD degree with honors, qualification in Pediatrics, and Pediatric Pathology Fellowship at the University of Genoa, Italy. Dr. Sergi obtained his qualification in Pathology at the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg, Germany, the Clinical Reader title at the University of Bristol, UK, PhD/Habilitation at the University of Innsbruck, Austria, MPH in Austria, and FRCPC (Pathology) from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. In his research, he established his Canadian laboratory in August 2008. He welcomed more than 100 graduate MSc/Ph.D. students, fellows, undergraduate and summer students with on-going teaching in Genetics and Pathology. Dr. Sergi is a Consultant of Carcinogenesis in Experimental Animals at the WHO/IARC, Lyon, France, and an “ad-hoc” Peer-Referee for the National Toxicology Program, NIH, USA. His areas of interest are Biology and Pathology of the Cardiovascular/Gastrointestinal System and Gut/Bile Microbiome as well as Bone Cell Biology. Dr. Sergi has >300 peer-reviewed PubMed publications (h-index: 23, RG-score: 44.26, > 2,500 citations). He identified the role of apoptosis in the ductal plate malformation of the liver (Am J Pathol, 2000), a new CTL4/Neu1 gene fusion transcript in sialidosis (Hum Genet 2001, FEBS Lett 2002, J Med Genet 2003), two new genes, i.e., WDR62, which encodes a centrosome-associated protein (Nat Genet 2010) and OTX2, mutations of which contribute to dysgnathia (J Med Genet 2012), as well as characteristics of the bile microbiome (Infect Drug Resist 2019, HPB (Oxford) 2019, J Med Microbiol 2018, Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis, 2018). He is editor in chief and in the editorial board of prestigious medical journals and international agencies.