Protective effect of Portulaca oleracea (purslane) against chemical and natural toxins: A review

Biological and chemical agents cause dangerous effects on human health via different exposing ways. Recently, herbal medicines are considered as a biological and safe treatment for toxicities. Portulaca oleracea L. (Purslane) is a member of the Portulacaceae. P. oleracea family that is grown throughout the world and has been used as a folk medicine in many countries, acting as a febrifuge, antiseptic, vermifuge, and so forth. It exhibits a wide range of pharmacological effects, including antibacterial, anti-ulcerogenic, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and wound-healing properties. The aim of the present article was to review the evidence related to protective properties of P. oleracea and its main component against various natural or chemical toxicities.The literature review was conducted using the electronic databases including Web of Science, Pubmed, Scopus, and Google Scholar. The keywords used as search terms were Portulaca oleracea, purslane, protective, antidote, toxin and toxic. No time limitation was considered in this study. Purslane has shown protective effects against toxin and adverse effects of medicines including cisplatin, Pb, mercury, gentamicin, carbon tetrachloride, carbamazepine, lipopolysaccharide (LPS), etc. The beneficial effects of P. oleracea are occurred by the reduction of the generation of reactive oxygen species. They also show anti-inflammatory and anti-apoptotic properties against nephrotoxicity, hepatotoxicity and lung injury of neutral and chemical toxins. Purslane extracts reduce the expression of IL-1, IL-6, TNFα, and PGE2, improve the level of WBC, MPO, MDA, and reduce the serum aminotransferase. P. oleracea has demonstrated a new horizon in curing toxicities of natural and chemical toxins. Further studies are needed to disclose the exact mechanisms of action of purslane against toxicities. These results demonstrate that purslane exerts protective effects against chemical and natural toxins.