The adverse effects and mitigation strategies of microcystin <?A3B2 pi6?>exposure in humans: a critical review

<p indent="0mm">Microcystins (MCs) released by cyanobacteria in eutrophic water bodies pose serious threats to global freshwater ecosystems and human health, making them a hot topic in public health research. This review summarizes the current status of MCs pollution, different exposure routes in humans, and toxicological mechanisms, and it explores health risk mitigation strategies from various perspectives. More specifically, human body is exposed to MCs primarily through contaminated water and food, skin contact, and inhalation, and high-temperature cooking does not reduce the concentration of MCs. MCs can cause significant health impacts, including skin toxicity, liver toxicity, reproductive toxicity, kidney toxicity, and neurotoxicity. It is suggested to control the health risks of MCs from the source and transmission routes, and by reducing their toxic effects on humans. Substances such as allicin and Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) have been shown to effectively prevent health hazards caused by MCs. Finally, the potential health risks from other exposure routes and future directions of research on MCs are proposed to provide evidence for accurately assessing their toxicity and health risk prevention.