Characterization of the Toxicological Impact of Heavy Metals on Human Health in Conjunction with Modern Analytical Methods

Abstract

Increased environmental pollution, urbanization, and a wide variety of anthropogenic activities have led to the release of toxic pollutants into the environment, including heavy metals (HMs). It has been found that increasing concentrations of HMs lead to toxicity, mineral imbalances, and serious diseases, which are occurring more and more frequently. Therefore, testing has become imperative to detect these deficiencies in a timely manner. The detection of traces of HMs, especially toxic ones, in human tissues, various biological fluids, or hair is a complex, high-precision analysis that enables early diagnosis, addressing people under constant stress or exposed to a toxic environment; the test also targets people who have died in suspicious circumstances. Tissue mineral analysis (TMA) determines the concentration of toxic minerals/metals at the intracellular level and can therefore determine correlations between measured concentrations and imbalances in the body. Framing the already-published information on the topic, this review aimed to explore the toxicity of HMs to human health, the harmful effects of their accumulation, the advantages vs. the disadvantages of choosing different biological fluids/tissues/organs necessary for the quantitative measurement of HM in the human body, as well as the choice of the optimal method, correlated with the purpose of the analysis.

Keywords: bibliometric analysis; environmental pollution; heavy metals; human health; mineralogram; tissue mineral analysis; toxic effect.

Figure 1

Classification of heavy metals based on their role in the human body.

Figure 2

PRISMA 2020 flow diagram describing literature selection.

Figure 3

Treemap of WOS categories with over 400 documents. Under the category name, the number of articles is presented.

Figure 4

Number of documents published/year.

Figure 5

Bubble map of keywords co-occurrence from 1975 to 2000.

Figure 6

Bubble map of keywords co-occurrence, from 2011 to present.

Figure 7

Bubble map of co-authorship by country (made with VOSviewer).

Figure 8

Most prolific countries: (a). In the period 1975–2010; and (b). In the period 2011 to present.

Figure 8

Most prolific countries: (a). In the period 1975–2010; and (b). In the period 2011 to present.

Figure 9

Most prolific journals: (a). In the period 1975–2010; and (b). In the period 2011 to present.

Figure 10

Exposure route to heavy metals.

Figure 11

Biological matrix, Sample Preparation and Modern Analytical techniques in HM determination.