Future of Lead Chelation – Distribution and Treatment. Venkatesh Thuppil

Lead is the major environmental toxin resulting in the ill health and deleterious effect on almost all organs in the human body in a slow and effective manner. The best treatment for lead poisoning is chelation therapy which is next only to prevention. The authors describe the disruption of homeostasis of the human body by lead in various tissues like blood, bones, liver, kidneys and brain; and the ability of lead to enter the cell using calcium channels and calcium receptors like Ca++ dependant K+ ion channels, transient receptor potential channels, T-tubules, calmodulin receptors, inositol trisphosphate receptors and ryanodine receptors. We report a few novel chelating agents like ionophores, decadentate ligands, picolinate ligands, octadentate ligand, allicin, thiamine, that show good potential for being used in chelation therapy. Future of lead poisoning is a challenge to all and it needs to be meticulously studies to have an economic and health approach