Protective Effects of and Aqueous Extracts against Cadmium- and Mercury-Induced Toxicities.

The extracts of and are widely used in the folk medicine. The potential protective effects of these extracts have been evaluated against cadmium in the yeast , and against mercurial contamination in zebrafish . In yeast, both extracts efficiently protected the Δ mutant strain exposed to cadmium chloride restoring the growth, the expression of stress-response genes and decreasing the level of oxidative stress. In zebrafish, the supplementation of methylmercury-contaminated diet with both plant extracts similarly protected fish through the suppression of the methylmercury-induced lipid peroxidation, decrease of acetylcholinesterase activity, and restoring the expression levels of stress-response genes. This study particularly demonstrates the protective potential of both aqueous extracts against methylmercury, and could represent an interesting alternative for the Amazonian fish-eating communities to cope with the impact of chronic exposure to contaminated diets.