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Toxins
Special Issues
Plant Toxins and Phytotoxins: Toxicology, Pharmacology, Identification, and Application
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Plant Toxins and Phytotoxins: Toxicology, Pharmacology, Identification, and Application

A special issue of Toxins (ISSN 2072-6651). This special issue belongs to the section "Plant Toxins".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2023) | Viewed by 3771

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Zbigniew Adamski

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Guest Editor
Assistant Professor, Department of Animal Physiology and Development, Electron and Confocal Microscope Laboratory, Faculty of Biology, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland
Interests: lethal and sub-lethal effects of plant-derived substances and their possible application as insecticides and nematicides; effects of alkaloids at cell and tissue level; alkaloid-procured lethality, altered fecundity, fertility, and morphological malformations of tested organisms
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Laura Scrano

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Guest Editor
Dipartimento delle Culture Europee e del Mediterraneo, Università degli Studi della Basilicata, Potenza, Italy
Interests: degradation and transformation of phytotoxins in water and soil; identification and characterization of plant secondary metabolites; evaluation of secondary metabolites' toxicity; use of phytotoxins as bio-pesticides
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Filomena Lelario

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Guest Editor
Dipartimento di Scienze, Università degli Studi della Basilicata, Potenza, Italy
Interests: secondary plant metabolites; extraction and characterization of natural products; pharmaceutical and nutraceutical compounds; mass spectrometric analysis of bioactive compounds, toxins, and related metabolites; development and validation of analytical methods; environmental contaminants
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Sabino Aurelio Bufo

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Guest Editor
Department of Science, University of Basilicata, Potenza, Italy
Interests: pharmaceuticals from plants and microorganisms; chemistry of natural substances in vegetables and soil; secondary plant metabolites; protection and recovery of ecosystems
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Several plant species are well-known for their toxicity, especially those with deadly toxicity to humans. Besides these highly toxic plant species, many more exhibit weak adverse effects or are beneficial for human health. Likely more relevant are undesirable effects due to poor phytomedicine, chronic exposure to foodstuffs, or allergenic reactions to plant-based personal care products.

Toxic plant secondary metabolites (PSMs), phytotoxins, are responsible for the toxicity of plants. PSMs have various functions, including physiological actions, attraction of insects, stimulation of symbioses, and protection against abiotic (e.g., temperature) and biotic stresses (e.g., herbivores or pathogens). Phytotoxins, specifically, are those PSMs working as defense agents by inducing adverse effects on other organisms' growth, development, or survival. They can be toxic to humans, animals, insects, microbes, fungi, or other plants. Many PSMs are essential for perfumery, cuisine, pest management (especially biopesticides), and medicine.

This Special Issue concerns the modes of action of plant toxins towards their target organisms. Articles or reviews reporting on phytotoxins acting as allergenic or hallucinogenic, exhibiting endocrine-disrupting effects, affecting the nervous system, or interfering with proteins, DNA, or the cell membrane are welcome. Environmental issues due to the diffusion of phytotoxins in surface water and health issues due to phytotoxins in food and drinking water are similarly essential themes for our Special Issue. Nevertheless, the chemical identification of toxic compounds facilitates their structure elucidation and investigation of their functions.

Dr. Zbigniew Adamski 
Prof. Dr. Laura Scrano
Dr. Filomena Lelario 
Prof. Dr. Sabino Aurelio Bufo
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Toxins is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • plant toxins
  • phytotoxins
  • functions
  • toxicity
  • phytomedicine
  • chemical identification
  • structure elucidation
  • plant protection bioagents
  • environmental issues
  • toxicity in foodstuffs
  • allergenic reactions
  • personal care products

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

7 pages, 275 KiB  
Communication
Deliberate Self-Poisoning with Plants in Southeastern France, a Poison Center 20-Year Report
by Romain Torrents, Julien Reynoard, Mathieu Glaizal, Corinne Schmitt, Katharina Von Fabeck, Audrey Boulamery, Luc de Haro and Nicolas Simon
Toxins 2023, 15(12), 671; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxins15120671 - 24 Nov 2023
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Abstract
Introduction: In a few regions of the globe, deliberate botanical intoxication may induce significant rates of toxicity and fatality. The objective of this report was to describe plant self-intoxication using the experiences of the southeastern France poison control center (PCC) between 2002 and [...] Read more.
Introduction: In a few regions of the globe, deliberate botanical intoxication may induce significant rates of toxicity and fatality. The objective of this report was to describe plant self-intoxication using the experiences of the southeastern France poison control center (PCC) between 2002 and 2021. Results: During those 20 years, 262 deliberate plants poisonings were reported involving 35 various plants. In most of the cases, poisoning was caused by Nerium oleander (n = 186, 71%), followed by the Datura genus (4.2%), Ricinus communis (3.8%), Taxus baccata (1.9%), Digitalis purpurea (1.2%), Aconitum nape (1.9%), Myristica fragans (1.5%), and Pyracantha coccine (1.2%). Through the 262 plants poisonings, 19 patients among the 186 Nerium oleander poisonings received Digifab as an antidote and 1 patient received physostigmine among the 11 Datura poisonings. Only four deaths were reported for this review, each involving Nerium oleander. Discussion: The first involved species was Nerium oleander (71% of all plants poisonings), then Datura sp and Ricinus communis. It is explained by this native local species’ important repartition. Most patients must be admitted to an emergency department for adapted medical care; however, only 41 of them described severe poisonings symptoms. Even fewer needed an antidote, only 20 patients. There is no protocol for the use of a specific treatment, and it might be interesting to develop one for this purpose. Material and Methods: This retrospective review was realized with files managed by the southeastern France PCC based in Marseille from 2002 to 2021. Our department covers the complete French Mediterranean coast, Corsica, and tropical islands (Reunion Island, Mayotte). For every patient, toxicity was evaluated using the Poison Severity Score (PSS). Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Plant Toxins and Phytotoxins: Toxicology, Pharmacology, Identification, and Application)
15 pages, 2627 KiB  
Article
Assessment of the Cytotoxicity, Mutagenicity, and Genotoxicity of Two Traditional Chinese Herbs: Aristolochia baetica and Magnolia officinalis
by Mélanie Poivre, Marie-Hélène Antoine, Kirill Kryshen, Anastasia Atsapkina, Alexander N. Shikov, Laure Twyffels, Amandine Nachtergael, Pierre Duez and Joëlle Nortier
Toxins 2023, 15(1), 52; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxins15010052 - 06 Jan 2023
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Abstract
Herbal remedies used in traditional medicine often contain several compounds combined in order to potentiate their own intrinsic properties. However, herbs can sometimes cause serious health troubles. In Belgium, patients who developed severe aristolochic acid nephropathy ingested slimming pills containing root extracts of [...] Read more.
Herbal remedies used in traditional medicine often contain several compounds combined in order to potentiate their own intrinsic properties. However, herbs can sometimes cause serious health troubles. In Belgium, patients who developed severe aristolochic acid nephropathy ingested slimming pills containing root extracts of an Aristolochia species, as well as the bark of Magnolia officinalis. The goal of the study was to evaluate, on a human renal cell line, Aristolochia and Magnolia extracts for their cytotoxicity by a resazurin cell viability assay, and their genotoxicity by immunodetection and quantification of the phosphorylated histone γ-H2AX. The present study also sought to assess the mutagenicity of these extracts, employing an OECD recognized test, the Ames test, using four Salmonella typhimurium strains with and without a microsomial fraction. Based on our results, it has been demonstrated that the Aristolochia–Magnolia combination (aqueous extracts) was more genotoxic to human kidney cells, and that this combination (aqueous and methanolic extracts) was more cytotoxic to human kidney cells after 24 and 48 h. Interestingly, it has also been shown that the Aristolochia–Magnolia combination (aqueous extracts) was mutagenic with a TA98 Salmonella typhimurium strain in the presence of a microsomial liver S9 fraction. This mutagenic effect appears to be dose-dependent. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Plant Toxins and Phytotoxins: Toxicology, Pharmacology, Identification, and Application)
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