The correlation of metal content in medicinal plants and their water extracts/Korelaciona analiza sadrzaja metala u lekovitim biljkama i njihovim vodenim ekstraktima

The quality of some medicinal plants and their water extracts from southeast Serbia was determined on the basis of metal content using atomic absorption spectrometry. Two methods were used for the preparation of water extracts in order to examine the impact of the preparation on the content of metals in the samples. The contents of investigated metals in both water extracts were markedly lower than in medicinal plants, but were higher in the water extract prepared by method (I), with the exception of lead. The coefficients of extraction for the observed metal can be represented in the following order: Zn > Mn > Pb > Cu > Fe. Correlation coefficients between the metal concentration in the extract and total metal content in plant material varied in the range from 0.6369 to 0.9956. This indicates the need for plants to be collected and grown in unpolluted areas, and to examine the metal content. The content of heavy metals in the investigated medicinal plants and their water extracts is below the maximum allowable values, so they are safe to use. Keywords: medicinal plants, water extracts, AAS. Kvalitet biljaka i njihovih vodenih ekstrakata sa podrucja Jugoistocne Srbije odredjen je na osnovu sadrzaja metala koriscenjem atomske absorpcione spektrometrije. Koriscene su dve metode za pripremu vodenih ekstrakata, kako bi se ispitao uticaj pripreme na sadrzaj metala u njima. U vodenim ekstraktima sadrzaj metala je niZi od sadrzaja u biljkama, ali u vodenom ekstraktu pripremljenom sa toplom vodom (metod I) koncentracije metala su vece, sa izuzetkom sadrzaja olova. Ekstrakcioni koeficijenti posmatranih teski metala mogu biti predstavljni sledecim redosledom: Zn > Mn > Pb > Cu > Fe. Korelacionom analizom su utvrdeni korelacioni koeficijenti izmedu koncentracije teskih metala u biljkama i njihovim ekstraktima i krecu se u granicama od 0,6369 do 0,9956. S obzirom na to neophodno je da se lekovito bilje gaji i bere na nezagadjenom podrucju, i da se ispituje sadrzaj metala. Sadrzaj metala u ispitivanim biljkama i njihovim vodenim ekstraktima je ispod maksimalno dozvoljene vrednosti, tako da su bezbedni za koriscenje. Kljucne reci: Lekovito bilje * Vodeni ekstrakti * AAS Available online at the Journal website: