title: Phototoxicity of herbal plants and herbal products.
abstract: Plants are used by humans in daily life in many different ways, including as food, herbal medicines, and cosmetics. Unfortunately, many natural plants and their chemical constituents are photocytotoxic and photogenotoxic, and these phototoxic phytochemicals are widely present in many different plant families. To date, information concerning the phototoxicity and photogenotoxicity of many plants and their chemical constituents is limited. In this review, we discuss phototoxic plants and their major phototoxic constituents; routes of human exposure; phototoxicity of these plants and their constituents; general mechanisms of phototoxicity of plants and phototoxic components; and several representative phototoxic plants and their photoactive chemical constituents.
authors.affiliation: a National Center for Toxicological Research , Jefferson , Arkansas , USA.
authors.forename: Peter P
authors.initials: PP
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.forename: Qingsu
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Xia
authors.forename: Yuewei
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Shuguang
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Hongtao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Hsiu-Mei
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Chiang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017484:Dermatitis, Phototoxic / Q000209:etiology*; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D017319:Photosensitizing Agents / Q000737:chemistry / Q000633:toxicity*; D064209:Phytochemicals / Q000737:chemistry / Q000633:toxicity*; D010944:Plants / Q000737:chemistry / Q000633:toxicity*; D051381:Rats; D018675:Toxicity Tests
chemical_list: D017319:Photosensitizing Agents; D064209:Phytochemicals