Instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) and atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) techniques were used to analyze 18 elements (K, Mn, Na, Fe, Zn, Cu, Co, Br, Sm, Cl, La, Al, Cr, Ca Cd, Ni, Pb and Hg) in different medici-nal plants often used in Indian Ayurvedic system. The samples were irradiated with thermal neutrons in a nuclear reactor and the induced activities were counted by γ-ray spectrometry using efficiency calibrated high resolution High Purity Germanium (HPGe) detector. Most of the medicinal plants were found to be rich in one or more of the ele-ments under study. The elemental concentra-tion in different part of medicinal plants and their biological effects on human beings are discussed.
Bakhru, H.K. (1998) Herbs that heal natural remedies for good health. Orient Paperbacks, Division of Vision Book Pvt. Ltd, New Delhi.
Lyengar, G.V. (1989) Elemental Analysis of Biological Systems: Biomedical Environmental, Compositional and Methodological Aspects of Trace Elements, Boca Raton, CRC Press, Florida, 1, pp. 242.
Ambasta, S.P. Ed. (1986) The Useful Plants of India, CSIR, New Delhi, pp. 918.
Underwood, E.J. (1977) Trace Elements in Human and Animal Nutrition, 4th Ed, Academic Press, New York, pp. 543.
Prasad, A.S. (1993) Essential and Toxic Elements in Human Health and Disease: An Update, Wiley-Liss, New York.
Powel, J.J., Burden, T.J. and Thompson, R.P.H. (1998) In vitro mineral availability from digested tea: A rich die-tary source of manganese. Analyst, 123, pp. 1721.
Abou Arab A.A.K. and Donia, M.A.A. (2000) Heavy metals in Egyptian spices and medicinal plants and the effect of processing on their levels. J. Agri. Food Chem., 48, pp. 2300.
Kumar, A., Nair, A.G.C., Reddy, A.V.R. and Garg, A.N. (2005) Analysis of essential elements in Pragya-peya-a herbal drink and its constituents by neutron activation. J. Pharma. Biomed. Anal., 37, pp. 631.
Majid, A.A.B., Sarmani, S., Yusoe, N.I., Wie, Y.K. and Hamzah, F. (1995) Trace elements in Malaysian medici-nal plants. J. Radioanal. Nucl. Chem., 195, pp. 173.
Kanias, G.D., Kilikoglou, V., Tsitsa, E. and Loukis, A. (1993) Determination and statistical analysis of trace element and active constituent concentrations in the me-dicinal plant Eucalyptus Camaldulensis Dehnh (E. Ros-tratus schlecht). J. Radioanal. Nucl.Chem., 169, pp. 483.
Patel, N.G. (1986) India’s traditional medicine: Ayurveda. In: Steiner, R.P. Ed., Folk Medicine: The Art and the Science, American Chemical Society, Washington D.C.
Herber, R.F.M. and Stoeppler, M. Eds. (1994) Trace Element Analysis in Biological Specimens, Elsevier, New York.
Rajurkar, N.S. and Pardeshi, B.M. (1997) Analysis of some herbal plants from India used in the control of dia-betes mellitus by NAA and AAS techniques. Appl. Ra-diat. Isot., 48, pp. 1059.
Birch, N.J. and. Padgham, C (1994) Potassium. In: Seiler, H. G., Sigel, A. and Sigel, H. Eds., Handbook on Metals in Clinical and Analytical Chemistry, Marcel Dekker, New York.
Charles, P. (1992) Calcium absorption and calcium bio- availability. J. Int. Med., 231, pp. 161.
Hughes, M.N. (1972) The Inorganic Chemistry of Bio-logical Processes, Wiley, London.
Prasad, A.S. (1982) Clinical and biochemical spectrum of zinc deficiency in human subjects. In: Prasad, A.S. Ed., Clinical, Biochemical and Nutritional Aspects of Trace Elements, Alan R. Liss, Inc, New York.
Thunus, L. and Lejeune, R. (1994) Cobalt, Zinc. In: Seiler, H.G., Sigel, A. and Sigel, H. Eds., Handbook on Metals in Clinical and Analytical Chemistry, Marcel Dekker, New York.
Sigel, H. Ed. (1978) Iron in model and natural com-pounds. Metals in Biological Systems, Marcel Dekker, New York, 7.
Reddy, M.B., Chidambaram, M.V. and Bates, G.W. (1987) In: Winkelmann, G., Helm, Van der D. and Neilands, J.B. Eds., Iron Transport in Microbes, Plants and Animals, VCH, New York.
Zetic, V.G. Tomas, V.S. Grba, S. Lutilsky, L. and Kozlek, D. (2001) Chromium uptake by Saccharomyces cere-visiae and isolation of glucose tolerance factor from yeast biomass. J. Biosci., 26, pp. 217.
Anderson, R.A. (1989) Essentiality of chromium to hu-mans. Sci. Total Environ., 86, pp. 75.
Mertz, W. (1982.) Clinical and public health significance of chromium. In: Prasad, A.S. Ed., Clinical, Biochemical and Nutritional Aspects of Trace Elements, Alan R. Liss, Inc, New York.
Anke, M., Groppel, B., Arnhold W., and Larger, M. (1988) Essentiality of the trace element Bromine. In: Briitter, P. and Schramel, P. Eds., Trace Element Ana-lytical Chemistry in Medicine and Biology, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin, New York, 5.
Chen, K.S., Tseng, C.L. and Lin, T.H. (1993) Trace ele-ments in natural drugs determined by INAA. J. Radio-anal. Nucl. Chem., 170, pp. 265.
Guenther, W. and Konieczynski, P. (2003) Speciation of Mg, Mn, and Zn in extracts of medicinal plants. Anal. Bioanal. Chem., 375, pp. 1067.
Hamilton, E.M.N., Whitney, E.N. and Sizer, F.S. (1994) Nutrition: Concepts and Controversies, 4th Ed., St. Paul, West Publishing Co, MN, USA.
O’Dell, B.L. and Sunde, R.A. Eds. (1997) Handbook of Nutritionally Essential Mineral Elements, Marcell Dek-ker Inc, New York.
Shils, M.E. and Young, V.R. (1988) Modern Nutrition in Health and Diseases, 7th Ed, K. M. Verghese Co.
Garg, A.N., Kumar, A., Maheshwari, G. and Sharma, S. (2005) Isotope dilution analysis for the determination of Zinc in blood samples of diabetic patients. J. Radioanal. Nucl.Chem., 263, pp. 39.
Razic, S., Onjia, A. and Potkonjak, B. (2003) Trace ele-ments analysis of Echinacea purpurea-herbal medicinal. J. Pharm. Biomed. Anal., 33, pp. 845.