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Introduction: Nerium oleander is a plant that is frequently grown in gardens and public areas. N. oleander is distributed originally in subtropical Asia but is now growing in many parts of the world, such as the United States, Australia, China, and Middle East countries. Pharmacological effects of plant including antinociceptive, anti-inflammatory, and anticancer activity were reported, but the potential toxic effects of all parts of the shrub either fresh or dried on animal and human body were documented. Method: The data of this review article were obtained from Medline/Pubmed, Scopusand Google Scholar databases in English until September 2019. To include all publications in this field, keywords such as N. oleander and toxicity were used. Results: The poisoning effects of plant or their active alkaloids induced infiltration of cells with hemorrhage and sever negative changes in the lung, induce lesions, and infiltration of inflammatory cells into the portal spaces with scattered necrosis of hepatocytes in the liver, cardiac toxicity of the plant in the heart were included, induced varying degrees of hemorrhage, myocardial degeneration, and necrosis. It also induced arrhythmia, sinus bradycardia, and prolonged P-R interval in electrocardiographic records. Conclusions: The toxic effects of N. oleander are mostly related to its inhibitory effects on the Na+-K+ ATPase pump in the cellular membrane. However, the exact molecular mechanism involved in the toxicity of N. oleander is not clear.

The aim of this study is to evaluate the relationship between cataract development and serum lipids, glucose as well as antioxidants in a case-control study. Methods: Ninety patients with cataract and 90 age-and sex-matched healthy controls were investigated. Lipid profiles including triglyceride (Tg), total serum cholesterol (Chol) and cholesterol content in high-density lipoproteins (HDL chol) and low-density lipoproteins (LDL chol) as well as fasting glucose (FBS) were measured for all subjects. Plasma oxidative stress as thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS) and the status of antioxidants were studied as ferric reducing/antioxidant power (FRAP) and thiol substance assay. Results: A higher prevalence of abnormal FBS (8.9 vs 1.1%), Tg (26.7 vs 8.9%) and Chol (54.4 vs 30%) was found in cataract patients than the control group (p < 0.05). Plasma Tg (p = 0.02), Chol (p = 0.001) and LDL chol (p = 0.04) were significantly higher in the cataract group than in the control group. Likewise TBARS (p = 0.05) as the level of oxidative stress was significantly higher in the case group, and FRAP (p = 0.03) and thiol (p = 0.02) assays as the antioxidant activity was significantly lower among cataract patients. Conclusion: This study has shown that hypercholesterolaemia, hypertriglyceridaemia, high LDL chol and high FBS are associated with cataract. Also lower plasma antioxidant levels and higher levels of oxidative stress were seen in cataract patients than healthy controls. These findings indicate a need for health promotional activities aimed at controlling these preventable factors among high risk populations.

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