Barthwal Jyoti, Nair Smitha, Kakkar Poonam
Herbal Research Section, Industrial Toxicology Research Centre, P.O Box-80, MG Marg, Lucknow, India.
Biomed Environ Sci. 2008 Aug;21(4):319-24. doi: 10.1016/S0895-3988(08)60049-5.
To estimate the heavy metal content in soil and selected medicinal plants procured from environmentally different sites of the same city.
Soil and plant samples of Abutilon indicum, Calotropis procera, Euphorbia hirta, Peristrophe bycaliculata, and Tinospora cordifolia were collected from 3 environmentally different sites of the city: heavy traffic area (HTA), industrial area (IA), and residential area (RA). Pb, Cd, Cr, and Ni were estimated in soil and plant samples by inductively coupled plasma emission spectrometry and compared.
The level of heavy metal was higher in soil than in plant parts studied. Accumulation of heavy metals varied from plant to plant. Pb was the highest in Calotropis procera root from HTA site and the lowest in Peristrophe bycaliculata whole plant from IA site. It was also lower in residential area than in heavy traffic area.
The level of heavy metal content differed in the same medicinal plant collected from environmentally different sites of the same city. Thus, it reiterates our belief that every medicinal plant sample should be tested for contaminant load before processing it further for medication.
评估从同一城市环境不同地点采集的土壤及选定药用植物中的重金属含量。
从该城市3个环境不同的地点采集土壤和苘麻、牛角瓜、飞扬草、九头狮子草及锡叶藤的植物样本，这3个地点分别为交通繁忙区域（HTA）、工业区（IA）和居民区（RA）。采用电感耦合等离子体发射光谱法测定土壤和植物样本中的铅、镉、铬和镍含量并进行比较。
土壤中的重金属含量高于所研究的植物部分。不同植物对重金属的积累情况各不相同。牛角瓜根部在HTA地点的铅含量最高，九头狮子草全株在IA地点的铅含量最低。居民区的铅含量也低于交通繁忙区域。
从同一城市环境不同地点采集的同一种药用植物的重金属含量水平存在差异。因此，这再次坚定了我们的信念，即每一种药用植物样本在进一步加工用于制药之前都应检测其污染物含量。
