Evaluation of a proficiency test on cadmium and lead in herbal material using assigned reference values

This paper presents an international proficiency testing program (APLAC T065) on two trace elements, cadmium and lead, in an herbal sample, Herba Desmodii Styracifolii. The program was registered with a total of 109 laboratories from 42 countries. The assigned reference values of the analytes for performance assessment were provided by the organizers using an accurate gravimetric isotope dilution inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry technique. z-Score was used as the numerical indicator to interpret participants' competence. The between-laboratory variations for cadmium and lead were respectively 18.7% and 19.8% and the consensus values were found to be consistent with the assigned reference values. Twenty-two participants gave at least one unsatisfactory z-score, but the performance of the majority of participants on the analysis of cadmium and lead in herbal matrix was generally good when compared with the assigned reference values.     

Influence of The Elemental Composition of Medicinal Fruits on The Results of Their Thermal Analysis

Studies on the thermal decomposition and on the elemental composition of commercial raw plant materials used in medicine were performed. 16independent samples of fruits originating from 12 medicinal plant species collected in1988–92 were analysed. The thermal decomposition was performed using the derivatograph. The content of non-metallic (N, P, S, Cl, I and B) and metallic (Ca, Mg, Fe, Mn, Cu and Zn)elements was determined by spectrophotometric techniques after previous mineralization of sample. In order to obtain more clear classification of the analysed plant materials principal component analysis was applied. The interpretation of PCA results for three databases (thermoanalytical, non-metals and metals data sets) allows to state, that samples of fruits from the same plant species in the majority of cases are characterized by similar elemental composition and similar course of their thermal decomposition. In this way the differences in general chemical composition of medicinal plants raw materials can be determined. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Relation Between Thermal Decomposition of Medicinal Herbs and their Non-Metals Concentration

The studies on the concentration of total nitrogen, phosphorus, sulphur, chlorine, iodine and boron as well as on the thermal decomposition of commercial raw plant materials used in medicine were performed. The 50 independent samples of herbs originating from 25 medicinal plant species collected in 1986–92 were analysed. The content of non-metallic elements was determined spectrophotometrically after previous mineralization of plant sample. The thermal decomposition was performed using the derivatograph with the application of 100 mg samples and heating rate of 5°C min⁻¹. In order to obtain more clear classification of the analysed plant materials principal component analysis (PCA) was applied. Interpretation of PCA results for two databases (non-metals and thermoanalytical data sets) allows to state, that samples of herbs from the same plant species in majority of cases are characterized by similar elemental composition and similar course of their thermal decomposition. In this way the differences in general chemical composition of medicinal plants raw materials can be determined. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Determination of major and trace elements in the indigenous medicinal plant Withania somnifera and their possible correlation with therapeutic activity

Withania somnifera (family Solanaceae) has been studied to determine major and trace elements and their possible correlation with therapeutic value of the plant. Nine trace elements were determined in Withania somnifera. This important medicinal plant was found to be rich in Fe, Cu, Ni, Mn, and Zn. These trace elements are well known for curing diseases. The plant contains nutrient elements, which are best sources for fodder.     

能量色散-X射线荧光光谱测定中草药痕量镉、铅、铜

为寻求一种能够直接对中草药中重金属进行快速检测的方法,采用压片法对样品进行前处理,建立了能量色散-X射线荧光光谱法快速检测中草药中痕量重金属镉、铅、铜元素的方法。在20 min即可完成检测,镉、铅、铜检出限分别为0.072、0.207、0.340 mg/kg,测试结果表明与原子吸收和ICP-MS相比,本方法数据稳定性和准确度良好,具有快速、准确、简单的优点,能够满足药典中对重金属元素的限量要求,适用于现场快速检测与质量控制检测。     

The application of artificial neural networks for the selection of key thermoanalytical parameters in medicinal plants analysis

In the present study three thermoanalytical methods: differential thermal analysis (DTA), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and derivative thermogravimetric analysis (DTG) were used to investigate the thermal behavior of medicinal plant raw materials. In order to describe DTA curve, designation of the onset T(i), and peak T(p), temperatures was required. In TGA the mass losses Delta(m), and in DTG the temperature range of peak DeltaT, peak temperature T(p), and peak height h, were recorded. All parameters were read for three stages of the thermal decomposition of plant samples which resulted in obtaining eighteen thermal variables for each sample. Some similarities in the course of thermal decomposition of the same plant organs were recognized, but complexity of the obtained data made it very difficult to determine if they could differentiate between medicinal plant materials and which of them encode the most valuable information about the studied herbals. In order to confirm the existence of any relations between the chemical composition of medicinal plants and their thermal decomposition and to find out which thermoanalytical variables or decomposition stages can be considered as the most significant in terms of their evaluation, it was decided to apply fully connected feed-forward artificial neural networks (ANN). Two different training algorithms were used to address the problem: back-propagation of error and conjugate gradient descent. To verify the results two-dimensional (2-D) Kohonen self-organizing feature maps (SOFMs) were employed. Two alternative datasets of thirteen key variables discriminating plant samples have been proposed.     

Thermal Decomposition of Medicinal Plant Raw Materials Based on Principal Component Analysis

Studies on the thermal decomposition of commercial raw plant materials used in medicine were performed. 144 independent samples of plant materials — herbs, leaves,flowers, inflorescences, fruits, roots, rhizomes and barks, collected by Medicinal Plant Works‘Herbapol’, were analyzed. Thermal decomposition was performed using OD-103 Derivatograph. As a result of analysis, it was established, that thermal decomposition of majority of samples proceeds through three stages. The analysis of fruits revealed, that their thermal decomposition proceeds in four stages. In order to obtain a more clear classification of the analyzed plant materials principal component analysis (PCA) was applied. Interpretation of the PCA results allows to state, that samples of raw materials from the same plant species in majority of cases are characterized by similar course of thermal decomposition due to similar chemical composition. In this way the differences in general chemical composition of medicinal plants raw materials can be determined. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

中草药微量元素数据的数据库管理

中草药微量元素数据库收集有四百多种常用中草药六十多种元素的测定数据，具有检索、打印、统计等多种功能，对逐步建立中草药微量元素背景值，促进中草药微量元素的研究具有重要的作用。     

植物类中药中微量元素的因子分析和聚类分析

尝试利用化学计量学方法探讨微量元素含量与中药药性的相关性。对１０５味植物类中药４２种微量元素测定数据用因子分析和聚类分析进行了多因素分析。因子分析证实了一个１０因子模型合理解释这些微量元素间的相关关系；样本聚类分析证明了１０５株中药合理地聚类成不同组；     

International comparison of the determination of cadmium and lead in herb: the Comité Consultatif pour la Quantité de Matière (CCQM) pilot study CCQM-P97

A Comité Consultatif pour la Quantité de Matière (CCQM) inter-laboratory comparison program, CCQM-P97, for the analysis of cadmium and lead in Herba Demodii Styracifolii was organized by the Hong Kong Government Laboratory. The objective of the program was to establish comparability of trace metals analysis in herbal matrices amongst the participating national metrology institutes. The arithmetic mean values of the 13 participants were 0.3186 mg kg⁻¹ (RSD = 11.3%) and 1.650 mg kg⁻¹ (RSD = 11.0%) for cadmium and lead, respectively. The participants using double-isotope dilution mass spectrometry technique for their quantification were found to provide similar mean values to those of non-isotope dilution mass spectrometry users. The observation indicated that trace metal analysis in herbal matrices was not method-dependent, but the use of the highest metrological IDMS approach gave a better precision than other routine calibration methods.     

Evaluation of an ultrasonic digestion procedure for total metal determination in sediment reference materials

In this work the possibility to use a simple and easily available laboratory device—routine ultrasonic bath—has been evaluated for total metal determination in sediments from different origin. The investigated instrumental parameters were time and temperature, whereas power was maintained constant set at 100% of nominal power. Four different sets of parameters were applied on a lake sediment reference material (RM), the results obtained for five elements—Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni and Zn—were statistically compared with those obtained by a previously optimised microwave acid digestion procedure on the same material. The optimal set of parameters—30 min sonication at ambient temperature—was chosen, and then applied to other five sediment RMs from different origin. In this case four additional elements—As, Pb, V and Fe—were also determined and the results were compared with reference and microwave values.The results obtained by the ultrasound digestion procedure were higher than 80% of the reference and/or microwave values in 40 out of 44 cases. In any case, the results obtained by ultrasonic procedure were statistically comparable to reference values (mean of means of interlaboratory exercises or certified values) in the 84% of the cases.     

Use of chromatography-mass spectrometry to study the composition of pharmacopoeial types of medicinal plant raw material

The composition of the volatile fraction of extracts for pharmacopoeial types of medicinal plant raw materials was studied using chromatography-mass spectrometry to identify specific compounds characteristic of a specific plant. Forty pharmacopoeial types of medicinal plant raw material were analyzed. It is shown that 14 of them contain specific volatile compounds (markers) allowing unambiguous identification.     

Elemental profile in some common medicinal plants of India. Its correlation with traditional therapeutic usage

Several parts of plants are used in herbal and Ayurvedic medicines of India. The different elemental constituents at trace levels of these plant parts play an effective role in the medicines prepared. Elemental composition of different parts (root, bark, leaf, seed) of some medicinal plants of North Eastern India has been determined by using proton induced X-ray emission (PIXE). A total of 14 elements, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Ga, As, Br, Rb, Sr, Y, Zr and Pb have been measured. Their concentrations were found to vary in different samples. Medicinal properties of these plant samples and their elemental distribution have been correlated.     

Determination of cadmium,copper and lead in mineral coal using solid sampling graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry

Solid sampling graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry (SS-GF AAS) was investigated as a potential technique for the routine determination of trace elements in mineral coal and cadmium, copper and lead were chosen as the model elements. Cadmium and lead could be determined at their main resonance lines at 228.8 nm and 283.3 nm, respectively, but an alternate, less sensitive line had to be used for the determination of copper because of the high copper content in coal. No modifier was necessary for the determination of copper and calibration against aqueous standards provided sufficient accuracy of the results. For the determination of cadmium and lead two different modifiers were investigated, palladium and magnesium nitrates in solution, added on top of each sample aliquot before introduction into the atomizer tube, and ruthenium as a ‘permanent’ modifier. Both approaches gave comparable results, and it is believed that this is the first report about the successful use of a permanent chemical modifier in SS-GF AAS. Calibration against solid standards had to be used for the determination of cadmium and lead in order to obtain accurate values. The agreement between the values found by the proposed procedure and the certificate values for a number of coal reference materials was more than acceptable for routine purposes. The detection limits calculated for 1 mg of coal sample using the ‘zero mass response’ were 0.003 and 0.007 μg g⁻¹ for cadmium with the permanent modifier and the modifier solution, respectively, approximately 0.04 μg g⁻¹ for lead, and 0.014 μg g⁻¹ for copper.     

Imaging surface spectroscopy for two- and three-dimensional characterization of materials

Secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) exhibits a unique potential for the measurement of two-and three-dimensional distributions of trace elements in advanced materials, which is demonstrated on relevant technological problems. One example is the characterization of high purity iron. With this material segregation experiments have been performed and the initial and final distribution of the trace elements have been measured. Another example is the investigation of the corrosion behaviour of high purity chromium. Samples oxidized with ¹⁶O and ¹⁸O have been measured to explain the growing and adhesion of the oxide layer. All imaging techniques generate a vast quantitiy of data. In order to extract the important information the assistance of chemometric tools is essential. Detection of chemical phases by classification using neural networks or de-noising of scanning-SIMS images by wavelet-filtering demonstrates the increase of the performance of analytical imaging techniques.     

Development of general approaches to spectrophotometric determination of phenolic compounds in medicinal plant raw materials and related pharmaceutical formulations

Regularities of spectrophotometric determination of phenolic compounds in medicinal plant raw materials are considered taking into account the effect of coexisting compounds. An algorithm for the development of a spectrophotometric procedure of analysis of biologically active compounds in medicinal plant raw materials and related pharmaceutical formulations was composed on the basis of generalized results of author´s own studies and literature data.     

Imaging surface spectroscopy for two- and three-dimensional characterization of materials

Secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) exhibits a unique potential for the measurement of two-and three-dimensional distributions of trace elements in advanced materials, which is demonstrated on relevant technological problems. One example is the characterization of high purity iron. With this material segregation experiments have been performed and the initial and final distribution of the trace elements have been measured. Another example is the investigation of the corrosion behaviour of high purity chromium. Samples oxidized with (16)O and (18)O have been measured to explain the growing and adhesion of the oxide layer. All imaging techniques generate a vast quantitiy of data. In order to extract the important information the assistance of chemometric tools is essential. Detection of chemical phases by classification using neural networks or de-noising of scanning-SIMS images by wavelet-filtering demonstrates the increase of the performance of analytical imaging techniques.     

Selenium concentrations of selected medicinal and aromatic plants in Turkey

Recent scientific studies have proven the importance of trace elements on human health. The main food supplies are plants and animals, which are significant sources of these minerals. Studies on determining mineral compositions of herbs, spices and some other crops have increased all over the world. Published works revealed that spices, herbs and medicinal plants should be consumed to obtain beneficial trace elements. Selenium (Se), one of the most vital trace elements, has a significant role in human diet acting as a preventative agent against some serious illnesses. Despite numerous scientific works on mineral compositions of medicinal and aromatic plants, investigations of selenium content in these foods could not be successfully studied until recently due to the lack of suitable analytical methods for selenium analysis. Thus, publications on selenium concentrations of foods are recent. In this regard, selenium contents of some medicinal and aromatic plants commonly used as spices, herbal teas and traditional medicines in Turkey were studied in the present research. Selenium contents of the most used parts of these plants were analyzed by ICP-OES (Varian Vista-Pro, Australia). Of the analyzed 26 medicinal and aromatic plants, the highest Se concentration (1133 microg kg-1) was found in sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) and the lowest in sumac (Rhus coriaria L.) fruits (11 microg kg(-1)).     

Evaluation of chemometric techniques and artificial neural networks for cancer screening using Cu, Fe, Se and Zn concentrations in blood serum

It is known that variations in the concentrations of certain trace elements in bodily fluids may be an indication of an alteration of the organism's normal functioning. Multivariate analysis of such data, and its comparison against proper reference values, can thus be employed as possible screening tests. Such analysis has usually been conducted by means of chemometric techniques and, to a lower extent, backpropagation artificial neural networks. Despite the excellent classification capacities of the latter, its development can be time-consuming and computer-intensive. Probabilistic artificial neural networks represent another attractive, yet scarcely evaluated classification technique which could be employed for the same purpose. The present work was aimed at comparing the performance of two chemometric techniques (principal component analysis and logistic regression) and two artificial neural networks (a backpropagation and a probabilistic neural network) as screening tools for cancer. The concentrations of copper, iron, selenium and zinc, which are known to play an important role in body chemistry, were used as indicators of physical status. Such elements were determined by total reflection X-ray fluorescence spectrometry in a sample of blood serum taken from individuals who had been given a positive (N = 27) or a negative (N = 32) diagnostic on various forms of cancer. The principal components analysis served two purposes: (i) initial screening of the data; and, (ii) reducing the dimension of the data space to be input to the networks. The logistic regression, as well as both artificial neural networks showed an outstanding performance in terms of distinguishing healthy (specificity: 90-100%) or unhealthy individuals (sensitivity: 100%). The probabilistic neural network offered additional advantages when compared to the more popular backpropagation counterpart. Effectively, the former is easier and faster to develop, for a smaller number of variables has to be optimized, and there are no risk of overtraining.     

Optimization and validation of post-column assay for screening of radical scavengers in herbal raw materials and herbal preparations

On-line method, which combines HPLC distribution and post-column reaction, was designed for the search of individual antioxidants. Optimization of the assay was performed evaluating optimal ABTS(+) radical cation concentration in the reactor, reaction time, impact of flow rate, reaction coil length. HPLC-ABTS assay validation in this work was performed by assessing reference antioxidant negative peak areas in radical scavenging chromatogram. Sample free radical scavenging activity is expressed as trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC). Optimized and validated method was applied in detection of compounds possessing free radical scavenging ability in complex mixtures. Antioxidant compounds were studied in perilla (Perilla frutescens (L.) Britton var. crispa f. viridis) herbal raw material and its preparations. The HPLC-separated antioxidant compounds were identified using HPLC-photodiode array coupled to mass spectrometer, using a reference mass for determining accurate masses. Radical scavenging characteristics of rosmarinic acid, which is the dominant phenolic compound in medicinal herbal raw material of perilla and its preparations, were confirmed by the calculated TEAC values. Compounds responsible for antioxidant effect in herbal raw materials and herbal preparations were identified, evaluated and compared.