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Toxicity of secondary metabolites

  • Abraham Madariaga-Mazón , Ricardo Bruno Hernández-Alvarado , Karla Olivia Noriega-Colima , Adriana Osnaya-Hernández and Karina Martinez-Mayorga EMAIL logo
Published/Copyright: August 20, 2019
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Abstract

Secondary metabolites, commonly referred to as natural products, are produced by living organisms and usually have pharmacological or biological activities. Secondary metabolites are the primary source for the discovery of new drugs. Furthermore, secondary metabolites are also used as food preservatives, biopesticides or as research tools. Although secondary metabolites are mainly used by their beneficial biological activity, the toxicity of some of them may limit their use. The toxicity assessment of any compound that is prone to be used in direct contact with human beings is of vital importance. There is a vast spectrum of experimental methods for toxicity evaluation, including in vitro and in vivo methodologies. In this work, we present an overview of the different sources, bioactivities, toxicities and chemical classification of secondary metabolites, followed by a sketch of the role of toxicity assessment in drug discovery and agrochemistry.

Funding statement: This work was supported by Instituto de Quimica-UNAM, and DGAPA-UNAM [grant number PAPIIT IN210518].

Acknowledgements

The authors thank ChemAxon for kindly providing academic license of their software.

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Published Online: 2019-08-20

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