Introduction: The standard medical treatment for metal toxicity is chelation therapy. Chelating agents work by forming less toxic complexes with the toxic metal ions which are readily excreted from the body. These compounds, based on their hydrophilic/lipophilic property, can either remove toxic metal ions from extracellular sites or can penetrate the intracellular compartments to facilitate the removal of toxic metal ions. However, there are various disadvantages associated with this kind of therapy, notably, selectivity. Other problems and challenges are that the therapy regime is expensive, time consuming and has poor patient compliance. Two chelating agents, dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA) and dimercaptopropionicsulfonate (DMPS) have gained increased acceptance among clinicians, undoubtedly improving the management of metal intoxications.
Areas covered: The present review provides an insight into the conventional chelating agents, new chelators under development, and the new opportunities presented by the use of nanotherapy for the treatment of metal poisoning cases.
Expert opinion: Today's research should not only focus towards development of alternate chelators but also targeted therapy such as the nanotherapy.
Keywords: Chelation therapy; metal toxicity; nanodrug delivery systems; nanotherapy.