Hindawi Publishing Corporation BioMed Research International Volume 2014, Article ID 640754, 26 pages http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2014/640754 Review Article Biomedical Implications of Heavy Metals Induced Imbalances in Redox Systems Bechan Sharma,1 Shweta Singh,2 and Nikhat J. Siddiqi3 1 Department of Biochemistry, University of Allahabad, Allahabad 211002, India 2 Department of Genetics, SGPGIMS, Lucknow 226014, India 3 Department of Biochemistry, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia Correspondence should be addressed to Bechan Sharma;
[email protected] Received 28 February 2014; Revised 28 May 2014; Accepted 10 July 2014; Published 12 August 2014 Academic Editor: Hartmut Jaeschke Copyright © 2014 Bechan Sharma et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Several workers have extensively worked out the metal induced toxicity and have reported the toxic and carcinogenic effects of metals in human and animals. It is well known that these metals play a crucial role in facilitating normal biological functions of cells as well. One of the major mechanisms associated with heavy metal toxicity has been attributed to generation of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species, which develops imbalance between the prooxidant elements and the antioxidants (reducing elements) in the body. In this process, a shift to the former is termed as oxidative stress. The oxidative stress mediated toxicity of heavy metals involves damage primarily to liver (hepatotoxicity), central nervous system (neurotoxicity), DNA (genotoxicity), and kidney (nephrotoxicity) in animals and humans. Heavy metals are reported to impact signaling cascade and associated factors leading to apoptosis.