| Title |
Investigation of heavy metals in frequently utilized medicinal plants collected from environmentally diverse locations of north western India
|
|---|---|
| Published in |
SpringerPlus, December 2013
|
| DOI | 10.1186/2193-1801-2-676 |
| Pubmed ID | |
| Authors |
Alpana Kulhari, Arun Sheorayan, Somvir Bajar, Susheel Sarkar, Ashok Chaudhury, Rajwant K. Kalia |
| Abstract |
The increasing prevalence of environmental pollution, especially soil contamination with heavy metals has led to their uptake in the human food chains through plant parts. Accumulation and magnification of heavy metals in human tissues through consumption of herbal remedies can cause hazardous impacts on health. Therefore, chemical profiling of nine heavy metals (Mn, Cr, Pb, Fe, Cd, Co, Zn, Ni and Hg) was undertaken in stem and leaf samples of ten medicinal plants (Acacia nilotica, Bacopa monnieri, Commiphora wightii, Ficus religiosa, Glycyrrhiza glabra, Hemidesmus indicus, Salvadora oleoides, Terminalia bellirica, Terminalia chebula and Withania somnifera) collected from environmentally diverse regions of Haryana and Rajasthan states in North-Western India. Concentration of all heavy metals, except Cr, was within permissible limits in the tested stem and leaf samples. Leaf samples had consistently more Cr compared to respective stem samples with highest concentration in leaf samples of Bacopa monnieri (13.19 ± 0.0480 ppm) and stem samples of Withania somnifera (4.93 ± 0.0185 ppm) both collected from Bahadurgarh (heavy industrial area), Haryana. This amount was beyond the permissible limit of 2.0 ppm defined by WHO for raw herbal material. Other two most perilous metals Pb (2.64 ± 0.0260) and Cd (0.04 ± 0.0274) were also recorded in Bahadurgarh region, although below permissible limits. Concentration of Hg remained below detectable levels in all the leaf and stem samples tested. These results suggested that cultivation of medicinal plants and other dietary herbs should be curtailed near environmentally polluted especially industrial areas for avoidance of health hazards. |
Mendeley readers
The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 137 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| United States | 1 | <1% |
| Ghana | 1 | <1% |
| Switzerland | 1 | <1% |
| Unknown | 134 | 98% |
Demographic breakdown
| Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Student > Ph. D. Student | 15 | 11% |
| Researcher | 15 | 11% |
| Student > Bachelor | 15 | 11% |
| Student > Master | 13 | 9% |
| Student > Postgraduate | 10 | 7% |
| Other | 27 | 20% |
| Unknown | 42 | 31% |
| Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 24 | 18% |
| Chemistry | 17 | 12% |
| Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutical Science | 13 | 9% |
| Environmental Science | 8 | 6% |
| Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology | 7 | 5% |
| Other | 18 | 13% |
| Unknown | 50 | 36% |
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 1. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 29 May 2014.
All research outputs
#20,230,558
of 22,756,196 outputs
Outputs from SpringerPlus
#1,461
of 1,852 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#248,218
of 286,104 outputs
Outputs of similar age from SpringerPlus
#69
of 74 outputs
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We're also able to compare this research output to 74 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one is in the 1st percentile – i.e., 1% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.