Environmental toxicant-mediated cardiovascular diseases: an insight into the mechanism and possible preventive strategy

Cardiovascular system is saddled with responsibility of pumping blood into circulation, thereby providing nourishment to tissues and removal of metabolic wastes. However, several environmental factors limit this simple but crucial function. It is still difficult to establish a link between environmental toxins and cardiovascular disease. Examining the research connecting alterations in the cardiovascular system to some of the most frequent environmental exposures is the goal of this review. Literature review was conducted by searching the keyword environmental contaminants and cardiovascular disease in major search engines such as Google Scholar, PubMed, Scopus, ScienceDirect, and ResearchGate. Studies repeatedly show a decrease in the cardiovascular system’s functionality that cannot be fully explained by obesity, recognized genetic factors, or dietary and lifestyle modifications alone. Over the same period of time as this declines in heart and vascular function, human exposures have undergone a significant change. Nearly 2,000 new compounds are launched each year, and more over 80,000 substances have been registered with the US National Toxicology Program. Many of them are recognized poisons, including heavy metals, phthalates, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, polyfluoroalkyl compounds, microplastics/nanoplastics, and organophosphate esters, which have been outlawed or severely regulated in other nations due to their known systemic harmful effects. Many of these chemicals still have legal exposure limits in the majority of developing nations, despite being recognized to impair the cardiovascular system. Various pathological mechanisms were highlighted in this review. However, exposure avoidance and risk reduction are crucial for the health of cardiovascular system.