Environmental Toxicants, Oxidative Stress, and Hepatic Dysfunction: Can Natural Products Offer Dual Hepatoprotective and Antioxidant Shielding

Alberta Jeanne N.

 

School of Applied Health Sciences Kampala International University Uganda

ABSTRACT

Environmental toxicants from industrial pollutants and agrochemicals to heavy metals and mycotoxins are pervasive contributors to liver injury worldwide. The liver’s central role in xenobiotic metabolism renders it particularly vulnerable: biotransformation reactions produce reactive metabolites and reactive oxygen species (ROS), initiating oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, lipid peroxidation, endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, and maladaptive inflammatory signaling. Together these processes drive hepatocellular injury, cholestasis, fibrosis, and, in chronic exposure settings, cirrhosis or hepatic carcinogenesis. Natural products, plant-derived polyphenols, flavonoids, terpenoids, alkaloids, and certain marine-derived compounds exert pleiotropic activities that simultaneously scavenge free radicals, induce endogenous antioxidant defenses, stabilize mitochondria, and modulate detoxification enzymes and inflammatory pathways. This review synthesizes mechanistic links between environmental toxicants and hepatic oxidative injury, summarizes classes of natural compounds with dual antioxidant and hepatoprotective effects, examines translational evidence, discusses formulation and safety considerations, and outlines research priorities needed to translate natural-product strategies into preventive and therapeutic tools against environmental hepatotoxicity.

Keywords: Environmental toxicants, oxidative stress, hepatoprotection, natural products, liver injury

 

CITE AS: Alberta Jeanne N. (2026). Environmental Toxicants, Oxidative Stress, and Hepatic Dysfunction: Can Natural Products Offer Dual Hepatoprotective and Antioxidant Shielding. IDOSR JOURNAL OF BIOLOGY, CHEMISTRY AND PHARMACY 11(1):42-43. https://doi.org/10.59298/IDOSR/JBCP/26/102.4246