Exploring the Effect of Heavy Metal Treatment on Anatomy and Phytochemicals in Jacobaea maritima by GC-MS Analysis

Phytochemicals are the major components in the medicinal system where plant extracts are used to prepare various drugs. The crude form of these plant extracts with phytochemicals is purified and potentized to make it suitable for human consumption and usage. Most plants can produce medicinally important phytochemicals as some are potentially used in various systems of medicine including Ayurveda, Homoeopathy, and Unani. The plant Jacobaea maritima is an important plant in the homeopathic system of medicine which has the phytochemicals that are mainly useful in treating ophthalmological disorders. In this study, we target phytochemicals by treating the plant with heavy metals to see if the metal ions impact this phytochemical production and the anatomical changes crucial for plant growth. It was found that many phytochemicals have the properties of antioxidant, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, metabolism-modulating, and immune-modulating and are produced in higher quantities with the treatment.