DETERMINATION OF SOME HEAVY METALS FROM A MEDICINAL PLANT, PUERARIA TUBEROSA, BY ATOMIC ABSORPTION SPECTROPHOTOMETRIC TECHNIQUE

摘要

Most of the herbal medicines, analysed for heavy metals, are found to be having higher concentration of one or more elements. Therefore, limit tests of heavy metals are essential for herbal medicines. There is also a need for heavy metal analysis to be an integral part of the standardization of herbal medicines. Pueraria tuberosa DC. is a large, perennial climber with huge tuberous root and distributed almost throughout India. Tubers of Pueraria tuberosa have many pharmacological activities of which antihepatotoxic activity against CCl_4 induced liver damage and anti-implantation activity in rats are few to name. Six common heavy metals, lead, zinc, copper, chromium, iron and nickel were analysed in the plant by Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometric (AAS) technique.