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Authors
Affiliations
1 Herbal Research Lab, Ramnarain Ruia College, Mumbai-400 019, Maharashtra, IN
Source
Nature Environment and Pollution Technology, Vol 7, No 4 (2008), Pagination: 605-608
Abstract
The analysis of heavy metals of medicinal plants is an important criteria of their standardisation. Various mineral elements occur in plant and animal tissues in such minute amounts that early workers were unable to measure their precise concentration with analytical methods then available. They were, therefore, described as occurring in trace quantity. The practice is still followed despite the development of modern analytical laboratory techniques such as atomic absorption spectroscopy and neutron activation analysis, which have an ability to measure all trace elements in the smallest of biological samples with great precision and accuracy. Four common heavy metals Pb, Zn, Cu and Ni were analysed in a medicinal plant Swertia densiflora (Griscb.) Kashyap by optical emission spectroscopy which uses the technique of inductively coupled plasma. The increased circulation of toxic metals in soils and plants may result in the inevitable buildup of such toxins in food chains. The results of the study indicate that the concentration of copper ranged from 7.10-9.25, zinc from 36.25-71.02, lead from 6.69-13.74 and nickel from < 1.0-4.46 in Swertia densiflora.
Keywords
ICP-Oes Technique, Heavy Metals, Swertia Densiflora, Medicinal Plants.
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