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Estimation of Heavy Metals in Different Berberis Species and Its Market Samples

Environmental Monitoring and Assessment volume 116, pages 315–320 (2006)Cite this article

Abstract

Popularity of herbal drugs is increasing all over the world because of lesser side effects as compared to synthetic drugs. Besides, it costs less and easily available to poor people particularly in developing countries. But quality assurance of herbal drugs is very necessary prior to its use. Because in today's polluted environment, even herbal drugs are not safe. Berberis spp. is very important medicinal plant, having various medicinal properties. It is also included in Indian and British pharmacopoeias. Its demand is quite high in herbal drug market. So, to check the quality of market samples of this drug, ten different samples were procured from different drug markets of India for heavy metal estimation. Besides, genuine samples of four species of Berberis viz. B. aristata, B. chitria, B. lycium, B. asiatica were also collected from natural habitats to compare heavy metal concentration in both market and genuine samples. It was found that market samples were much more contaminated than genuine samples. Lead (Pb) concentration is far beyond from WHO permissible limit (10 ppm) for herbal drugs, reaching to maximum 49.75 ppm in Amritsar market sample. Likewise, concentration of all other metals like Cd, Cr and Ni were also very high in market samples as compared to genuine samples.

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  1. Pharmacognosy and Ethnopharmacology Division, National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow, 226001, India

    Sharad Kumar Srivastava, Vartika Rai, Manjoosha Srivastava, A. K. S. Rawat & Shanta Mehrotra

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  1. Sharad Kumar Srivastava
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  2. Vartika Rai
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  3. Manjoosha Srivastava
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  4. A. K. S. Rawat
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  5. Shanta Mehrotra
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Correspondence to Sharad Kumar Srivastava.

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Srivastava, S.K., Rai, V., Srivastava, M. et al. Estimation of Heavy Metals in Different Berberis Species and Its Market Samples. Environ Monit Assess 116, 315–320 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-006-7395-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-006-7395-x

Keywords

  • Berberis
  • Daruharidra
  • heavy metals
  • market samples
  • permissible limit