Certain medicinal plants as biomonitors to roadside automotive pollution.
El-Khawas S. A.
Author Affiliation: Botany Department, Faculty of Science, Ain Shams University, Abbasia, Cairo, Egypt.
Journal of Food, Agriculture & Environment 9 : 593-598
Abstract : In recent years, multiple biomarker systems have been frequently used to measure the genotoxic effects of environmental pollutants on living organisms. This bioassay reflects the toxicological damage of traffic roadside on certain medicinal plants at physiological and biochemical levels; furthermore, it can help to define the specific adaptation defense mechanism by the detection of biomarkers. The physiological analysis of different plant samples (the first is orange which has a healing properties, the second is olive which has a myriad of medicinal uses, olive leaf extract has shown to be effective in inhibiting the HI virus, herpes viruses, and all flu viruses, the third is mango which is considered as antiseptic, antibacterial, antiinflammatory, diaphoretic, stomachic and laxative and the last apricot which is a dietary source of antioxidant vitamins and minerals) in response to automotive traffic showed different significant reductions (in photosynthetic pigments and soluble sugars) or increments (in total soluble nitrogen, total soluble protein, proline contents, Cu, Cd and Pb). Mango leaves accumulate greater amounts of toxic elements as compared to other plant samples, so it can act as a hyper-accumulator plant. The common remark is the significant increment in the content of glutamic, aspartic, cysteine, glycine and arginine in all polluted plants, since they are precursors of stress induced proteins appeared under such abiotic stress. They were related to phytochelatins and metallothioneins (Mwt 29-11 KDa).