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An approach towards safe and sustainable use of the green alga Chlorella for removal of radionuclides and heavy metal ions

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Abstract

Release of radionuclide and heavy metals in environment during healthcare, agriculture and military practices, and mining and energy production, poses a serious threat to humans and whole ecosystems. Acute or chronic exposure to human causes serious health effects such as acute radiation syndrome, burns, neurological disorders, renal damage and cancers. Hence, there is a need to find safe, wide-spectrum and cost-effective agents for removing internalized radionuclides and preventing internalization of these ions. In this direction, nutritional supplements offer an excellent option. The present review examines the potential of Chlorella for removal of radionuclide and heavy metal ions. Chlorella is a green alga consumed as dietary food supplement in powdered form. In addition to its high nutritional value, it is reported as an excellent detoxifying agent. The powdered Chlorella has been reported for removal of mercury, cadmium and radioactive strontium from the body. Chlorella contains a variety of metal-binding functional groups such as carboxyl, amino, phosphoryl, hydroxyl and carbonyl groups, which have high affinity towards various metal ions. Different species of Chlorella in live, dead or powdered forms has shown removal efficiency for different toxic metal ions from living as well as non-living things.

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Acknowledgement

The authors would like to thanks Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences (INMAS), DRDO, New Delhi for providing all the necessary facilities and requirement to complete this review.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of CBRN Defence, Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences (INMAS), Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO), Brig. S.K. Mazumdar Road, Timarpur, New Delhi, 110054, India

    Mahendra Yadav & Nidhi Sandal

  2. Narayan Institute of Pharmacy, Gopal Narayan Singh University, Sasaram, Rohtas, Bihar, 821305, India

    Mahendra Yadav

  3. Delhi Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Research, Delhi Pharmaceutical Sciences and Research University, New Delhi, 110017, India

    Komal Rani & Meenakshi Kanwar Chauhan

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  1. Mahendra Yadav
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  2. Komal Rani
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  3. Nidhi Sandal
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  4. Meenakshi Kanwar Chauhan
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Contributions

Mahendra Yadav, Komal Rani and Nidhi Sandal: Conceptualization, Study Design, Literature Review, Data collection and Paper writing-Original draft; Meenakshi Kanwar Chauhan: Study design and draft reading and editing.

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Correspondence to Nidhi Sandal.

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Yadav, M., Rani, K., Sandal, N. et al. An approach towards safe and sustainable use of the green alga Chlorella for removal of radionuclides and heavy metal ions. J Appl Phycol 34, 2117–2133 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10811-022-02771-6

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