Kumar A, Nair A G C, Reddy A V R, Garg A N
Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee 247667, India.
Biol Trace Elem Res. 2006 Mar;109(3):231-54. doi: 10.1385/bter:109:3:231.
Bhasmas are unique Ayurvedic metallic preparations with herbal juices/fruits, known in the Indian subcontinent since the seventh century BC and widely recommended for treatment of a variety of chronic ailments. Twenty bhasmas based on calcium, iron, zinc, mercury, silver, potassium, arsenic, copper, tin, and gemstones were analyzed for up to 18 elements by instrumental neutron activation analysis, including their C, H, N, and S contents. In addition to the major constituent element found at % level, several other essential elements such as Na, K, Ca, Mg, V, Mn, Fe, Cu, and Zn have also been found in microg/g amounts and ultratrace (ng/g) amounts of Au and Co. These seem to remain chelated with organic ligands derived from medicinal herbs. The bhasmas are biologically produced nanoparticles and are taken along with milk, butter, honey, or ghee (a preparation from milk); thus, this makes these elements easily assimilable, eliminating their harmful effects and enhancing their biocompatibility. Siddha Makaradhwaja, a mercury preparation is found to be stoichiometrically HgS without any traces of any other element. Similarly, Swet Parpati is stoichiometrically KNO3 but is found to have Mn, Cu, Zn, Na, P, and Cl as well. An attempt has been made to correlate the metallic contents with their medicinal importance. Na and K, the two electrolytic elements, seem to be well correlated, although K/Na varies in a wide range from 0.06 to 95, with specifically low values for Ca-, Fe-, and Zn-based bhasmas. K/P also varies in a wide range from 0.23 to 12, although for most bhasmas (n = 12), it is 2.3 +/- 1.2. Further, Fe/Mn is linearly correlated (r = 0.96) with Fe in nine noniron bhasmas.
煅灰制剂是阿育吠陀医学中独特的金属制剂，与草药汁/水果混合，自公元前七世纪起就在印度次大陆为人所知，并被广泛推荐用于治疗各种慢性疾病。对20种基于钙、铁、锌、汞、银、钾、砷、铜、锡和宝石的煅灰制剂进行了仪器中子活化分析，检测了多达18种元素，包括它们的碳、氢、氮和硫含量。除了以百分比水平存在的主要组成元素外，还发现了其他几种必需元素，如钠、钾、钙、镁、钒、锰、铁、铜和锌，以及微克/克含量的金和钴和超痕量（纳克/克）含量的钴。这些元素似乎与来自草药的有机配体螯合在一起。煅灰制剂是生物产生的纳米颗粒，与牛奶、黄油、蜂蜜或酥油（一种牛奶制品）一起服用；因此，这使得这些元素易于吸收，消除了它们的有害影响并增强了它们的生物相容性。悉达磨汞制剂被发现化学计量比为硫化汞，没有任何其他元素的痕迹。同样，白降丹化学计量比为硝酸钾，但也发现含有锰、铜、锌、钠、磷和氯。人们试图将金属含量与其药用重要性联系起来。钠和钾这两种电解质元素似乎有很好的相关性，尽管钾/钠的变化范围很广，从0.06到95，钙基、铁基和锌基煅灰制剂的值特别低。钾/磷的变化范围也很广，从0.23到12，尽管对于大多数煅灰制剂（n = 12），其值为2.3±1.2。此外，在9种非铁煅灰制剂中，铁/锰与铁呈线性相关（r = 0.96）。
